Heartland Advisors Inc. Acquires Shares of 122,828 Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Heartland Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 122,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,863,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in XEL. Keating Financial Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $88,000. Patron Partners LLC bought a new stake in Xcel Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $448,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy in the second quarter worth approximately $794,000. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy in the second quarter worth approximately $17,470,000. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,350,000. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Xcel Energy Trading Down 3.1%

Shares of Xcel Energy stock opened at $76.30 on Friday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.29 and a 1 year high of $84.23. The firm has a market cap of $47.66 billion, a PE ratio of 20.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $79.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

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

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a $0.5925 dividend. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is presently 64.93%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on XEL. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Monday, June 8th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $91.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock 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.