State of Tennessee Department of Treasury Cuts Stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

State of Tennessee Department of Treasury trimmed its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report) by 16.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 187,001 shares of the company's stock after selling 37,153 shares during the quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury's holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $12,626,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 106.5% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 56,769 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,833,000 after acquiring an additional 29,281 shares during the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,244 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,839,000 after purchasing an additional 3,527 shares during the period. Sharpepoint LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $211,000. MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 73,073 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,934,000 after purchasing an additional 708 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 151,999 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,263,000 after buying an additional 7,061 shares in the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

XEL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded Xcel Energy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $74.82.

Insider Activity at Xcel Energy

In other Xcel Energy news, Director Devin W. Stockfish bought 2,170 shares of Xcel Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $68.93 per share, with a total value of $149,578.10. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,007 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $207,272.51. This represents a 259.26 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:XEL traded up $0.34 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $69.34. The stock had a trading volume of 674,482 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,580,606. The company has a market capitalization of $39.94 billion, a PE ratio of 20.15, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.10. Xcel Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $51.97 and a twelve month high of $73.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $3.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.93 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 14.40% and a return on equity of 10.65%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Xcel Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Xcel Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 67.06%.

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.