Royal Bank of Canada Has $307.62 Million Stake in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 5.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,872,314 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 198,157 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $307,617,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of XEL. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in Xcel Energy by 1.7% in the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 7,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $593,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 28,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,138,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co now owns 6,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $457,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Keel Point LLC boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 5,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $405,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KCM Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $600,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on XEL. Morgan Stanley set a $89.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $96.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. UBS Group upped their target price on Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $92.65.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ XEL opened at $78.75 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $49.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.69, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.77. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.16 and a fifty-two week high of $84.23. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.42.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91. The firm had revenue of $4.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.21 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 14.14%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.5925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is presently 68.30%.

About Xcel Energy

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ: XEL) is a Minneapolis-based, publicly traded utility holding company that develops, owns and operates regulated electricity and natural gas delivery systems. The company’s core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, the delivery of natural gas to customers, and related customer service operations. Xcel provides a mix of utility services to residential, commercial and industrial customers and participates in wholesale energy markets where appropriate.

Its generation portfolio combines nuclear, natural gas, coal and a growing share of renewable resources such as wind and solar.