Dean Capital Management Has $1.84 Million Stock Position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Dean Capital Management grew its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 18.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,270 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,272 shares during the quarter. Dean Capital Management’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $1,841,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 73,831,988 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,985,136,000 after buying an additional 953,002 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Xcel Energy by 43.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 20,762,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,401,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,306,380 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 19,291,149 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,302,538,000 after buying an additional 1,022,194 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 17,613,239 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,189,246,000 after acquiring an additional 2,422,483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Xcel Energy by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,178,956 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,029,223,000 after buying an additional 616,853 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on XEL. Wells Fargo & Company set a $78.00 price target on Xcel Energy and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley set a $79.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Xcel Energy from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $76.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Devin W. Stockfish purchased 2,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $68.93 per share, with a total value of $149,578.10. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,007 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,272.51. The trade was a 259.26 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 0.2 %

XEL opened at $71.06 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $69.65 and a 200-day moving average of $68.42. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $51.97 and a fifty-two week high of $73.38. The company has a market capitalization of $40.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.38.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.11). Xcel Energy had a net margin of 14.40% and a return on equity of 10.65%. The business had revenue of $3.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, April 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. 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.