Reaves W H & Co. Inc. Acquires 206,327 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Reaves W H & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report) by 16.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,488,696 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 206,327 shares during the quarter. Xcel Energy makes up 3.3% of Reaves W H & Co. Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. owned approximately 0.27% of Xcel Energy worth $92,165,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of XEL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 15.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,062,856 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,665,677,000 after purchasing an additional 8,644,054 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 16.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,559,321 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 216.1% during the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,627,320 shares of the company's stock worth $92,981,000 after acquiring an additional 1,112,510 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 184.9% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 247.8% during 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 last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on XEL shares. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Xcel Energy from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Barclays lifted their target price on Xcel Energy from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Xcel Energy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ XEL traded up $0.22 during trading on Friday, reaching $55.46. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,432,972 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,195,420. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.82 billion, a PE ratio of 16.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.36. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $53.10 and a 200 day moving average of $57.79. Xcel Energy Inc. has a one year low of $46.79 and a one year high of $69.40.

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

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.548 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from Xcel Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.95%. Xcel Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 65.77%.

Xcel Energy 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.

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