Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) Position Increased by Alaska Permanent Fund Corp

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 89,278 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 634 shares during the period. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $5,527,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 15.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,062,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,665,677,000 after purchasing an additional 8,644,054 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Xcel Energy by 16.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 18,521,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,059,821,000 after buying an additional 2,559,321 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Xcel Energy by 8.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,504,622 shares of the company’s stock worth $429,414,000 after buying an additional 583,318 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Xcel Energy by 1.6% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,739,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $328,396,000 after buying an additional 90,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Xcel Energy by 11.6% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,303,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $303,440,000 after buying an additional 550,508 shares in the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. TheStreet downgraded Xcel Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of 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. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $61.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Trading Down 1.2 %

XEL stock traded down $0.67 during trading on Thursday, hitting $54.66. The company had a trading volume of 954,332 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,330,912. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $53.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.12. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $46.79 and a 12 month high of $70.97. The stock has a market cap of $30.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.24, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.36.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.85 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.01 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.78% and a net margin of 12.47%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.69 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.548 per share. This is a boost from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.01%. 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.