157,794 Shares in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL Bought by Commerce Bank

Commerce Bank bought a new stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 157,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,671,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $240,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 30.7% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 13,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $978,000 after purchasing an additional 3,242 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 40.7% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 48,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,434,000 after purchasing an additional 14,029 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Xcel Energy by 4.8% during the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,193 shares of the company’s stock worth $694,000 after purchasing an additional 469 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC raised its holdings in Xcel Energy by 16.0% during the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 2,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Xcel Energy Trading Down 3.1%

NASDAQ XEL opened at $76.30 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $79.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.70. Xcel Energy Inc. has a one year low of $71.29 and a one year high of $84.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market cap of $47.66 billion, a PE ratio of 20.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.39.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.14. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 10.65%. The business had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.59 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on XEL. Mizuho set a $92.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $101.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. New Street Research set a $91.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Xcel Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $92.41.

Xcel Energy Profile

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.