GF Fund Management CO. LTD. Has $8.30 Million Stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

GF Fund Management CO. LTD. raised its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report) by 7.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 117,263 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 8,431 shares during the period. GF Fund Management CO. LTD.'s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $8,301,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Rossby Financial LCC bought a new stake in Xcel Energy during the 1st quarter worth about $50,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Xcel Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $52,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 23.2% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 827 shares of the company's stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

XEL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $78.00 to $77.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Xcel Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Xcel Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Xcel Energy currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $75.80.

Xcel Energy Trading Up 1.0%

XEL stock traded up $0.70 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $68.26. 2,236,072 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,600,741. Xcel Energy Inc. has a one year low of $51.97 and a one year high of $73.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $39.37 billion, a PE ratio of 19.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.36. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $69.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.58.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.11). Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 14.10%. The business had revenue of $3.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, July 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Xcel Energy's payout ratio is currently 67.06%.

About Xcel Energy

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.