Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Raises Stock Position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 37.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,443 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,850 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $647,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of XEL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 15.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,062,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,665,677,000 after buying an additional 8,644,054 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 16.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 18,521,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,059,821,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559,321 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 216.1% during the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,627,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,981,000 after purchasing an additional 1,112,510 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 184.9% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,451,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,861,000 after purchasing an additional 942,097 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 247.8% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,284,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,511,000 after purchasing an additional 915,046 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. TheStreet lowered Xcel Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Trading Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ XEL opened at $54.25 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $53.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $46.79 and a 12 month high of $69.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.29, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.36.

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

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.04%. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.77%.

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.