Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Acquires 12,650 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 260,647 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 12,650 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $17,599,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 73,831,988 shares of the company's stock worth $4,985,136,000 after purchasing an additional 953,002 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 43.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 20,762,745 shares of the company's stock worth $1,401,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,306,380 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 19,291,149 shares of the company's stock worth $1,302,538,000 after acquiring an additional 1,022,194 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 17,613,239 shares of the company's stock worth $1,189,246,000 after acquiring an additional 2,422,483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Xcel Energy by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,178,956 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,029,223,000 after purchasing an additional 616,853 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on XEL shares. Wells Fargo & Company set a $78.00 price target on Xcel Energy and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley set a $78.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Xcel Energy has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $75.90.

Xcel Energy Trading Up 0.7%

Xcel Energy stock traded up $0.51 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $69.98. The company's stock had a trading volume of 656,456 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,615,009. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $51.97 and a 12 month high of $73.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $69.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.95. The stock has a market cap of $40.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.38.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.95 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $3.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.93 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 14.40% and a return on equity of 10.65%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Xcel Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.06%.

Insider Transactions at Xcel Energy

In other news, Director Devin W. Stockfish acquired 2,170 shares of Xcel Energy stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $68.93 per share, with a total value of $149,578.10. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,007 shares in the company, valued at $207,272.51. The trade was a 259.26% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

Xcel Energy Company Profile

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.