California Public Employees Retirement System Cuts Stock Position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,355,336 shares of the company's stock after selling 46,337 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.61% of Xcel Energy worth $207,729,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 15.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,062,856 shares of the company's stock worth $3,665,677,000 after acquiring an additional 8,644,054 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Xcel Energy by 16.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 18,521,863 shares of the company's stock worth $1,059,821,000 after buying an additional 2,559,321 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in Xcel Energy by 216.1% in the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,627,320 shares of the company's stock worth $92,981,000 after buying an additional 1,112,510 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 184.9% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,451,483 shares of the company's stock worth $89,861,000 after acquiring an additional 942,097 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 247.8% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,284,305 shares of the company's stock worth $79,511,000 after acquiring an additional 915,046 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company's stock.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of XEL traded up $0.31 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $55.27. 4,425,756 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,399,167. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $46.79 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.36. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $54.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.14.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.85 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.01 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 12.47% and a return on equity of 10.78%. Xcel Energy's revenue for the quarter was down 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.69 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.548 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.97%. Xcel Energy's dividend payout ratio is 68.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on XEL. Barclays raised Xcel Energy from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $61.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Wolfe Research raised Xcel Energy from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $58.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Xcel Energy has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Company Profile

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.