BNP Paribas Financial Markets Acquires 693,921 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report) by 155.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,140,853 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 693,921 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned about 0.21% of Xcel Energy worth $70,630,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 26,007 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,610,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 20,580 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,274,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 20.1% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,123 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 70,411 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,359,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venture Visionary Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 5,460 shares of the company's stock valued at $338,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of XEL stock traded up $0.22 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $55.46. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,432,982 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,392,831. The business has a fifty day moving average of $53.21 and a 200-day moving average of $57.78. The stock has a market cap of $30.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.36. Xcel Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $46.79 and a twelve month high of $69.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48.

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

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 is an increase from Xcel Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.95%. Xcel Energy's dividend payout ratio is presently 65.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on XEL. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a "b-" rating to a "c+" rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of 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 given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average 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.