481,674 Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management reduced its Xcel Energy stake by 41.1%, selling 481,674 shares and retaining 691,609 shares valued at approximately $48.7 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 78.38% of Xcel Energy.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with two Strong Buy, twelve Buy, and one Hold ratings; however, several firms lowered their price targets. The consensus rating is Buy with an average target of $91, compared with the stock’s $76.31 opening price.
• Xcel Energy reported quarterly EPS of $0.93, exceeding the $0.79 consensus estimate, although revenue fell 5.1% year over year to $3.12 billion. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.5925 per share, representing an annualized yield of about 3.1%.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report) by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 691,609 shares of the company's stock after selling 481,674 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.11% of Xcel Energy worth $48,745,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Xcel Energy in the second quarter worth approximately $280,187,000. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in Xcel Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $94,211,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 10,366.0% during the second quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 316,702 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,431,000 after acquiring an additional 313,676 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new stake in Xcel Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $7,894,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Xcel Energy by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 29,933,748 shares of the company's stock worth $2,403,680,000 after acquiring an additional 491,937 shares in the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on XEL. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $87.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Mizuho set a $92.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, July 31st. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Xcel Energy from $88.00 to $87.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Xcel Energy from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $91.00.

Xcel Energy Trading Up 1.6%

XEL stock opened at $76.31 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $74.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.96. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $68.72 and a fifty-two week high of $84.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.14. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.65% and a net margin of 15.28%. The company had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.59 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.5925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Xcel Energy's payout ratio is presently 64.93%.

Xcel Energy Profile

Xcel Energy Inc is a Minneapolis-based energy company that provides electricity and natural gas through regulated utility operations. Its businesses generate, transmit, distribute and sell electricity, as well as distribute natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Through its operating companies, Xcel Energy serves customers in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin. The company's operations include a diverse generation portfolio featuring wind, solar, hydroelectric, nuclear, natural gas and other energy resources.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.