Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Lowers Position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 16.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,222 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,613 shares during the quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in XEL. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Capital Analysts LLC boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 293.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 433 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Xcel Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on XEL. TheStreet lowered Xcel Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wolfe Research raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:XEL opened at $54.25 on Monday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $46.79 and a 52-week high of $69.85. The stock has a market cap of $30.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.29, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.36. The business has a fifty day moving average of $53.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.08. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 11.03%. The firm had revenue of $3.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.548 per share. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is presently 65.77%.

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.