New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 56,358 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report) by 14.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 347,412 shares of the company's stock after selling 56,358 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.06% of Xcel Energy worth $21,508,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in XEL. DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its stake in Xcel Energy by 82.4% during the third quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 17,288 shares of the company's stock worth $989,000 after purchasing an additional 7,811 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC lifted its stake in Xcel Energy by 4.5% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 5,262 shares of the company's stock valued at $305,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional lifted its stake in Xcel Energy by 11.7% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 5,865 shares of the company's stock valued at $336,000 after buying an additional 613 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Xcel Energy by 5.0% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 5,021 shares of the company's stock valued at $287,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its stake in Xcel Energy by 48.0% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 96,406 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,516,000 after buying an additional 31,255 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Xcel Energy stock traded down $1.05 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $53.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,451,721 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,954,739. 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's 50-day moving average price is $53.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.07. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $46.79 and a 12 month high of $70.72. The company has a market capitalization of $29.97 billion, a PE ratio of 16.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.36.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $3.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.12 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 11.12% and a net margin of 13.36%. Xcel Energy's revenue was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.548 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.06%. This is a boost from Xcel Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Xcel Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

XEL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Xcel Energy from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $58.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $62.58.

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.