MML Investors Services LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL – Get Rating) by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,865 shares of the company’s stock after selling 558 shares during the quarter. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $823,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Prospera Financial Services Inc lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 20.0% in the second quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 11,309 shares of the company’s stock valued at $800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,888 shares during the period. Atria Investments LLC lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 9.4% in the second quarter. Atria Investments LLC now owns 50,809 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,595,000 after purchasing an additional 4,378 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 19.5% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 27,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,757,000 after purchasing an additional 4,482 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 6.1% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 110,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,088,000 after purchasing an additional 6,409 shares during the period. Finally, First Republic Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 1.9% in the third quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. now owns 115,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,394,000 after buying an additional 2,192 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.15% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research analysts have issued reports on XEL shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 27th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Xcel Energy to $68.00 in a report on Monday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Finally, Credit Suisse Group cut shares of Xcel Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $68.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, November 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.80.
Xcel Energy Trading Up 1.2 %
Shares of XEL opened at $65.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.53. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $56.89 and a 1-year high of $77.66. The stock has a market cap of $35.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.41.
Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 26th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 10.72%. The business had revenue of $4.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.05 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.58 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Xcel Energy Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This is a boost from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 14th. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is presently 65.62%.
About Xcel Energy
Xcel Energy, Inc operates as a holding company engaged in the generation, purchase, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity. It operates through the following three segments: Regulated Electric Utility, Regulated Natural Gas Utility and All Others. The Regulated Electric Utility segment generates, transmits, and distributes electricity primarily in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico.
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