Comerica Bank Decreases Holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Key Points

• Comerica Bank cut its stake in Xcel Energy by 18.3% in Q4, selling 27,821 shares and leaving it with 124,381 shares valued at about $9.19 million.
• Wall Street is broadly bullish on XEL — the consensus rating is Buy with an average price target of $90.88 after several recent target increases and multiple buy/strong-buy notes.
• Xcel raised its quarterly dividend to $0.5925 (annualized $2.37, ~3.0% yield) and reported Q results with EPS of $0.96 (in line) and revenue up 14.1% year‑over‑year but slightly below estimates.

Comerica Bank decreased its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report) by 18.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 124,381 shares of the company's stock after selling 27,821 shares during the period. Comerica Bank's holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $9,187,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 25,519 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,899,000 after acquiring an additional 2,872 shares during the last quarter. Anchyra Partners LLC acquired a new position in Xcel Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $277,000. Aprio Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 22.7% during the 4th quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,726 shares of the company's stock valued at $571,000 after purchasing an additional 1,428 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 23.4% during the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 10,831 shares of the company's stock valued at $800,000 after purchasing an additional 2,055 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 6,472,774 shares of the company's stock valued at $478,079,000 after purchasing an additional 465,908 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

XEL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, BTIG Research set a $94.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $90.88.

Xcel Energy Stock Down 0.8%

NASDAQ:XEL opened at $78.82 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.05, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.43. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.21 and a 1-year high of $84.23. The company's fifty day moving average price is $80.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.96. The firm had revenue of $3.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.77 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.76% and a return on equity of 10.46%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.81 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a $0.5925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This is an increase 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 3.0%. Xcel Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.30%.

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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