UBS Group AG Has $175.06 Million Position in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Key Points

• UBS Group AG reduced its stake in Xcel Energy by 20.9% in Q4, selling 626,353 shares and now holds 2,370,093 shares valued at about $175.06 million (roughly 0.40% of the company).
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive—four analysts have rated XEL a Strong Buy, twelve a Buy and one a Sell, resulting in an average rating of Buy and an average price target of $90.88.
• Xcel raised its quarterly dividend to $0.5925 (annualized $2.37), representing a 3.0% yield and a dividend payout ratio of 69.3%.

UBS Group AG reduced its stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report) by 20.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,370,093 shares of the company's stock after selling 626,353 shares during the quarter. UBS Group AG owned approximately 0.40% of Xcel Energy worth $175,055,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 59,103 shares of the company's stock worth $4,365,000 after purchasing an additional 1,686 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,610,805 shares of the company's stock worth $5,732,334,000 after purchasing an additional 885,085 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 39.3% in the 4th quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 17,149 shares of the company's stock worth $1,267,000 after purchasing an additional 4,835 shares during the last quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,385 shares of the company's stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 16,740 shares of the company's stock worth $1,245,000 after purchasing an additional 1,127 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley set a $92.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Mizuho set a $86.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Barclays lifted their price target on Xcel Energy from $82.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $90.88.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

XEL opened at $78.82 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $49.20 billion, a PE ratio of 23.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.21 and a 1 year high of $84.23. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $80.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.70.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.96. The business had revenue of $3.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.77 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.46% and a net margin of 13.76%.Xcel Energy's quarterly revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.81 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This is a boost 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%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. Xcel Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.30%.

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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