Sigma Planning Corp Sells 4,230 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Sigma Planning Corp decreased its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 24.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,874 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,230 shares during the quarter. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $797,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of XEL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 15.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,062,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,665,677,000 after acquiring an additional 8,644,054 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 16.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 18,521,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,059,821,000 after acquiring an additional 2,559,321 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 216.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,627,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,981,000 after acquiring an additional 1,112,510 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Xcel Energy by 247.8% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,284,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,511,000 after buying an additional 915,046 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in Xcel Energy by 1,228.1% in the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 635,172 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,345,000 after buying an additional 587,348 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on XEL. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Barclays raised shares of Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $61.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ XEL opened at $55.27 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $46.79 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The company has a market capitalization of $30.70 billion, a PE ratio of 17.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.36. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $54.02 and its 200-day moving average is $58.14.

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

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.548 per share. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.97%. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is presently 68.22%.

Xcel Energy Company 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.