Newport Trust Company LLC Cuts Position in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Key Points

• Newport Trust Company LLC reduced its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. by 1.9% in Q1, now owning approximately 4 million shares, which make up about 0.7% of its portfolio.
• A variety of institutional investors made adjustments to their positions in Xcel Energy, with Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increasing its stake by 18.3% during the same period.
• Recent analyst ratings for Xcel Energy include a price target increase from $74 to $78 by Mizuho, while Wall Street Zen downgraded the stock from "hold" to "sell," reflecting mixed outlooks among analysts.

Newport Trust Company LLC cut its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report) by 1.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,027,468 shares of the company's stock after selling 76,268 shares during the period. Xcel Energy makes up 0.7% of Newport Trust Company LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Newport Trust Company LLC owned 0.70% of Xcel Energy worth $285,104,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in XEL. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Xcel Energy by 43.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 20,762,745 shares of the company's stock worth $1,401,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,306,380 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 31.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 25,809,978 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,827,090,000 after acquiring an additional 6,109,190 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 1,625.7% during the fourth quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 3,667,200 shares of the company's stock valued at $247,609,000 after acquiring an additional 3,454,700 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 379.3% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,022,085 shares of the company's stock valued at $271,578,000 after acquiring an additional 3,182,939 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the first quarter valued at about $155,510,000. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on XEL shares. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $76.00.

Xcel Energy Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ XEL traded down $1.23 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $73.03. 2,250,131 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,648,756. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $60.53 and a 12-month high of $74.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.96. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $70.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.82. The firm has a market cap of $43.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.34.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.09. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 14.85% and a return on equity of 10.52%. The company had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.54 earnings per share. Xcel Energy's quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Xcel Energy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. Xcel Energy's dividend payout ratio is 63.16%.

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.