Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) Stock Holdings Reduced by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp cut its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 132,728 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,907 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $8,217,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC boosted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 26,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,610,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 20,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,274,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 29.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 20.1% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 70,411 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,359,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. TheStreet lowered shares of Xcel Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ XEL opened at $54.25 on Friday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $46.79 and a twelve month high of $69.85. The stock has a market cap of $30.14 billion, a PE ratio of 16.29, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.36. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.08. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 13.36%. The firm had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.548 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.04%. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is currently 65.77%.

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.