BNP Paribas Financial Markets Has $109.20 Million Stock Holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Key Points

• BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 90.8% in Q3 to 1,353,980 shares (an additional 644,269 shares), valued at about $109.20 million and representing roughly 0.23% of the company.
• Xcel reported Q results with EPS of $0.96 (meeting estimates) and revenue of $3.56 billion (up 14.1% year-over-year but below consensus), and it raised its quarterly dividend to $0.5925 (annualized $2.37) for a ~2.9% yield and a 69.3% payout ratio.
• Analysts are broadly positive on XEL, with an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $88.44 (consensus includes 3 Strong Buy, 12 Buy, 1 Hold, 1 Sell).

BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report) by 90.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,353,980 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 644,269 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned approximately 0.23% of Xcel Energy worth $109,198,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 9.0% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 26,262,079 shares of the company's stock worth $1,788,448,000 after acquiring an additional 2,157,602 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 54.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,098,386 shares of the company's stock valued at $491,835,000 after purchasing an additional 2,145,063 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Xcel Energy by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 76,725,720 shares of the company's stock worth $6,187,929,000 after purchasing an additional 2,001,018 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Xcel Energy by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 18,719,520 shares of the company's stock worth $1,274,799,000 after purchasing an additional 1,746,066 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 29.0% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,366,422 shares of the company's stock worth $501,653,000 after purchasing an additional 1,654,505 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company's stock.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

XEL opened at $80.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $50.42 billion, a PE ratio of 23.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $78.27 and a 200-day moving average of $77.63. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.21 and a 52-week high of $84.23.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.96. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.46% and a net margin of 13.76%.The business had revenue of $3.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.77 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.81 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.5925 dividend. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Xcel Energy's payout ratio is 69.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on XEL shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, January 23rd. UBS Group raised shares of Xcel Energy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $81.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Mizuho set a $86.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Argus set a $86.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $87.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $88.44.

Xcel Energy Profile

Xcel Energy NASDAQ: XEL is a Minneapolis-based, publicly traded utility holding company that develops, owns and operates regulated electricity and natural gas delivery systems. The company's core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, the delivery of natural gas to customers, and related customer service operations. Xcel provides a mix of utility services to residential, commercial and industrial customers and participates in wholesale energy markets where appropriate.

Its generation portfolio combines nuclear, natural gas, coal and a growing share of renewable resources such as wind and solar.

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