Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Raises Position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 536,542 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 11,000 shares during the quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned approximately 0.09% of Xcel Energy worth $36,227,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in Xcel Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Xcel Energy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. MCF Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 566.3% in the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 593 shares of the company's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares during the period. Finally, First Financial Corp IN purchased a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Xcel Energy

In other Xcel Energy news, Director Devin W. Stockfish bought 2,170 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $68.93 per share, for a total transaction of $149,578.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,007 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $207,272.51. This represents a 259.26 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on XEL shares. Morgan Stanley set a $79.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group raised their price target on Xcel Energy from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Xcel Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $78.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $76.00.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ XEL traded down $0.69 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $69.98. The stock had a trading volume of 1,537,241 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,576,316. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.93. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $51.97 and a 12-month high of $73.38. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $69.61 and a 200-day moving average of $68.17. The company has a market capitalization of $40.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.39.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $3.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.93 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.65% and a net margin of 14.40%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. The business's revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Xcel Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.06%.

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.