Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Trims Holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lessened its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report) by 2.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 178,621 shares of the company's stock after selling 4,298 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC's holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $12,645,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.3% in the fourth 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 period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in 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 valued at $1,401,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,306,380 shares in 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 worth $1,302,538,000 after buying an additional 1,022,194 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew 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 buying an additional 2,422,483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 616,853 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on XEL. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays increased their target price on Xcel Energy from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $78.00 price target on Xcel Energy and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $75.90.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 1.2%

Xcel Energy stock traded up $0.82 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $69.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,567,890 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,571,442. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $39.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.08, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.37. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $69.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.90. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $51.97 and a 52-week high of $73.38.

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 company had revenue of $3.91 billion during 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 revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, July 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Xcel Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.