Newport Trust Company LLC Sells 59,303 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Newport Trust Company LLC decreased its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,852,285 shares of the company’s stock after selling 59,303 shares during the period. Xcel Energy accounts for about 0.7% of Newport Trust Company LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Newport Trust Company LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $310,687,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in XEL. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Xcel Energy by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,144,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,344,295,000 after buying an additional 126,790 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Xcel Energy by 9.0% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 26,262,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,788,448,000 after acquiring an additional 2,157,602 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,526,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,574,842,000 after purchasing an additional 807,353 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,191,204 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,108,006,000 after purchasing an additional 460,103 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 29.0% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,366,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $501,653,000 after purchasing an additional 1,654,505 shares in the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Xcel Energy Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ XEL opened at $75.01 on Friday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.21 and a 52-week high of $83.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.79. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $76.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.79. The company has a market capitalization of $44.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.46.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.32 by ($0.08). Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.46% and a return on equity of 10.45%. The firm had revenue of $3.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.89 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. Xcel Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 29th were paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 29th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is 69.51%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on XEL. KeyCorp cut their price target on Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Friday. Citigroup raised their target price on Xcel Energy from $80.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Xcel Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.53.

About Xcel Energy

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.