Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL Stake Trimmed by Jennison Associates LLC

Key Points

• Jennison Associates trimmed its Xcel Energy stake by 2.1% in the first quarter, selling 40,312 shares and leaving it with about 1.92 million shares valued at $152.6 million.
• Wall Street remains mostly bullish on Xcel Energy, with JPMorgan raising its price target to $102 and the consensus rating staying at Buy with an average target of $92.76.
• The utility reported Q1 EPS of $0.91, matching estimates, and also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.5925 per share, implying a 3.0% yield.

Jennison Associates LLC cut its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report) by 2.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,921,483 shares of the company's stock after selling 40,312 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC owned 0.31% of Xcel Energy worth $152,643,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in XEL. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.7% in the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 7,358 shares of the company's stock worth $593,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 133 shares during the period. Keel Point LLC boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 5,485 shares of the company's stock worth $405,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. Finally, GeoWealth Management LLC grew its position in Xcel Energy by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 3,185 shares of the company's stock worth $257,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $91.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen cut Xcel Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $96.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Monday, May 4th. New Street Research set a $91.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $101.00 price objective on Xcel Energy in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Xcel Energy has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $92.76.

Xcel Energy Trading Down 1.5%

Xcel Energy stock opened at $78.77 on Friday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.16 and a 12 month high of $84.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The stock has a market cap of $49.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.39. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $79.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.05.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.91. The business had revenue of $4.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.21 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 14.14%.Xcel Energy's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $0.5925 dividend. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Xcel Energy's dividend payout ratio is presently 68.30%.

Xcel Energy Profile

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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