Federated Hermes Inc. Acquires 915,046 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 247.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,284,305 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 915,046 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $79,511,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in Xcel Energy by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 298,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,448,000 after buying an additional 7,679 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 47.7% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 115,016 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,121,000 after buying an additional 37,131 shares in the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 930.5% in the third quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 45,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,627,000 after buying an additional 41,462 shares in the last quarter. First Bank & Trust boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 66.8% in the fourth quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 70,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,359,000 after buying an additional 28,187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 15.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,062,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,665,677,000 after buying an additional 8,644,054 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on XEL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective 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. Barclays raised Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $61.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. TheStreet lowered Xcel Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Xcel Energy stock opened at $53.76 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $54.23 and its 200 day moving average is $58.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market cap of $29.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 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.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.44 billion during 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 revenue was down 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a $0.548 dividend. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is currently 68.22%.

About Xcel Energy

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.