Conning Inc. Purchases 172 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Conning Inc. increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 4.1% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,400 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 172 shares during the period. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $311,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Rossby Financial LCC bought a new stake in Xcel Energy in the first quarter valued at $50,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $52,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new stake in Xcel Energy in the first quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.80.

Xcel Energy Trading Up 1.0%

NASDAQ:XEL opened at $68.26 on Friday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a one year low of $51.97 and a one year high of $73.38. The company has a market cap of $39.37 billion, a PE ratio of 20.08, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $69.09 and a 200-day moving average of $68.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.70.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.95 by ($0.11). Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 14.10%. The firm had revenue of $3.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, July 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.06%.

Xcel Energy Company 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.