Squarepoint Ops LLC Purchases 425,202 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 113.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 799,666 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 425,202 shares during the quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $64,213,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 365.3% during the 1st quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. now owns 349 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. First Bancorp Inc ME bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the second quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Advocate Investing Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 1.5%

NASDAQ XEL opened at $76.88 on Wednesday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $71.29 and a twelve month high of $84.23. The stock has a market cap of $48.02 billion, a PE ratio of 21.06, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.70.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.65% and a net margin of 15.28%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.59 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.93%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

XEL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on Xcel Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Xcel Energy from $91.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, July 31st. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.41.

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.