Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL Shares Bought by Geode Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Geode Capital Management increased its Xcel Energy holdings by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, bringing its stake to 16.5 million shares valued at about $1.21 billion. The firm now owns roughly 2.79% of the utility company.
• Wall Street remains generally positive on XEL, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $90.63. Recent updates from KeyCorp, UBS, Barclays, JPMorgan, and BTIG show mixed but mostly constructive target revisions.
• Xcel Energy reported Q1 earnings in line with expectations at $0.91 per share, while revenue came in below estimates at $4.02 billion. The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.5925 per share, implying an annual yield of about 3.0%.

Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,496,124 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 126,498 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.79% of Xcel Energy worth $1,214,035,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 7,358 shares of the company's stock worth $593,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. TIAA Trust National Association increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 12,683 shares of the company's stock worth $1,022,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 28,949 shares of the company's stock worth $2,138,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co now owns 6,184 shares of the company's stock worth $457,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. Finally, Intrust Bank NA increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 11,360 shares of the company's stock worth $916,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on XEL. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. BTIG Research set a $94.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, January 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $91.00 to $87.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $90.63.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ XEL opened at $79.50 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.91, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.41. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.21 and a 12 month high of $84.23. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $79.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91. The business had revenue of $4.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.21 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 14.14% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The business's revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. Analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.5925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Xcel Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.30%.

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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