Bank of Montreal Can Sells 68,507 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Bank of Montreal Can lessened its stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 9.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 638,607 shares of the company’s stock after selling 68,507 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $43,489,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of XEL. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 31.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 25,809,978 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,827,090,000 after buying an additional 6,109,190 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the first quarter worth $155,510,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 7.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 20,811,241 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,473,228,000 after buying an additional 1,520,092 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 74,818,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,296,377,000 after buying an additional 986,170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 5,894.2% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 998,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,998,000 after buying an additional 981,849 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on XEL. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $79.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Cowen began coverage on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $86.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $87.29.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Xcel Energy stock opened at $81.19 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $77.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $72.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.02 billion, a PE ratio of 22.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $62.58 and a 12-month high of $83.01.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.32 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $3.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.89 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.52% and a net margin of 14.85%.Xcel Energy’s revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.25 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Profile

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.