Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 10,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $630,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 53.5% during the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 42,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,440,000 after buying an additional 14,859 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 4.6% during the third quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 82.4% in the 3rd quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 17,288 shares of the company’s stock valued at $989,000 after acquiring an additional 7,811 shares during the period. Park Place Capital Corp raised its position in Xcel Energy by 71.2% in the 3rd quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 2,741 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BTC Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Xcel Energy by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 87,029 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,980,000 after purchasing an additional 711 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com cut Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Barclays raised Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $61.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, TheStreet cut Xcel Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Xcel Energy stock opened at $54.96 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $30.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.36. Xcel Energy Inc. has a one year low of $46.79 and a one year high of $71.32. The business has a fifty day moving average of $54.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.85 by ($0.02). Xcel Energy had a net margin of 12.47% and a return on equity of 10.78%. The company had revenue of $3.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.548 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.99%. This is a boost from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.22%.

Xcel Energy Profile

Xcel Energy Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, purchasing, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity. It operates through Regulated Electric Utility, Regulated Natural Gas Utility, and All Other segments. The company generates electricity through wind, nuclear, hydroelectric, biomass, and solar energy sources, as well as coal, natural gas, oil, wood, and refuse-derived fuels.