Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Buys New Stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 13,104 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $847,000.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on XEL shares. Barclays boosted their target price on Xcel Energy from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley set a $78.00 price objective on Xcel Energy and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Xcel Energy from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $78.00 price objective on Xcel Energy and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $75.90.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ XEL traded down $0.83 on Monday, hitting $66.79. 3,343,491 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,575,562. 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 firm's 50-day moving average price is $69.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.75. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $51.97 and a fifty-two week high of $73.38. The firm has a market cap of $38.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.37.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $3.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.93 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.65% and a net margin of 14.40%. The business's revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, July 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Xcel Energy's dividend 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.