Truist Financial Corp Buys 66,524 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report) by 85.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 144,788 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 66,524 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp's holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $8,964,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC raised its holdings in Xcel Energy by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 26,007 shares of the company's stock worth $1,610,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Xcel Energy by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 20,580 shares of the company's stock worth $1,274,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its holdings in Xcel Energy by 29.1% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 812 shares of the company's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its holdings in Xcel Energy by 20.1% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,123 shares of the company's stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. Finally, Xponance Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 70,411 shares of the company's stock worth $4,359,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the period. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Xcel Energy stock traded up $0.46 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $54.25. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,953,949 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,365,063. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $46.79 and a 1-year high of $69.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $53.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.94. The company has a market cap of $30.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.29, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.36.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.12 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 11.03%. The business's revenue was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.548 per share. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase 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 research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $62.83.

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.