Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $5.65 Million Investment in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 71,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,648,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Abound Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 394.5% during the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 361 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Beacon Financial Strategies CORP bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Pittenger & Anderson Inc. boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 73.8% during the 4th quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on XEL. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. New Street Research set a $91.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a research note on Tuesday. Mizuho lowered their price target on Xcel Energy from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $91.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $91.29.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of XEL opened at $82.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.39. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $66.56 and a 1 year high of $84.23. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 14.14% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The firm had revenue of $4.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.21 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. Xcel Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $0.5925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.30%.

Xcel Energy Company 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.