Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank reduced its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,724,600 shares of the company’s stock after selling 45,600 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.31% of Xcel Energy worth $106,770,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in XEL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 15.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,062,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,665,677,000 after purchasing an additional 8,644,054 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Xcel Energy by 16.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 18,521,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,059,821,000 after buying an additional 2,559,321 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 216.1% during the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,627,320 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,981,000 after buying an additional 1,112,510 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 184.9% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,451,483 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,861,000 after buying an additional 942,097 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 247.8% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,284,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,511,000 after acquiring an additional 915,046 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on XEL shares. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Wolfe Research upgraded Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Xcel Energy from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 0.9 %

XEL stock opened at $54.25 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.91. The company has a market capitalization of $30.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.29, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.36. Xcel Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $46.79 and a twelve month high of $69.85.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 11.03%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. On average, equities research 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 disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.04%. This is a boost from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.