First Trust Advisors LP Reduces Stake in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Key Points

• First Trust Advisors LP cut its Xcel Energy stake by 33.4% in the first quarter, selling 493,190 shares and ending with 981,419 shares valued at about $77.96 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains mostly bullish, with several firms reiterating Buy/Overweight-type ratings and an average price target of $92.65, above the stock’s recent price.
• Xcel continues to show steady fundamentals and dividend support, reporting EPS in line with estimates, paying a quarterly dividend of $0.5925, and yielding about 2.9% annually.

First Trust Advisors LP lessened its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report) by 33.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 981,419 shares of the company's stock after selling 493,190 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.16% of Xcel Energy worth $77,964,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $240,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Xcel Energy by 30.7% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 13,810 shares of the company's stock worth $978,000 after buying an additional 3,242 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP lifted its stake in Xcel Energy by 40.7% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 48,515 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,434,000 after buying an additional 14,029 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 4.8% in the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,193 shares of the company's stock valued at $694,000 after acquiring an additional 469 shares during the period. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 16.0% in the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 2,620 shares of the company's stock valued at $178,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on XEL shares. BTIG Research restated a "buy" rating and issued a $98.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. New Street Research set a $91.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $92.65.

Xcel Energy News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Xcel Energy this week:

• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp reiterated an Overweight rating on Xcel Energy and raised its longer-term earnings estimates, including FY2027, FY2028, FY2029, and FY2030, signaling confidence in the utility’s multi-year growth profile.
• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp also lifted its FY2029 EPS forecast to $5.34 from $5.13 and FY2028 EPS to $4.89 from $4.77, which supports the view that earnings can improve steadily over time.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary also pointed to Xcel as potentially undervalued relative to its earnings and dividend profile, with additional investor focus on clean energy spending and AI-driven power demand as possible longer-term tailwinds.
• Neutral Sentiment: KeyCorp’s near-term FY2026 EPS estimate was slightly reduced to $4.12 from $4.13, a small change that does not materially alter the broader thesis.
• Neutral Sentiment: Other recent coverage included Morgan Stanley reiterating a Hold rating and Zacks noting the company is due to report earnings next week, keeping attention centered on the upcoming results rather than any major new fundamental shock.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of XEL stock opened at $81.67 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $79.59 and a 200-day moving average of $79.26. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $69.16 and a 12-month high of $84.23.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91. The firm had revenue of $4.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.21 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 14.14%.The business's revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a $0.5925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Xcel Energy's payout ratio is 68.30%.

About Xcel Energy

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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