Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Acquires New Position in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 9,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $778,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,144,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,344,295,000 after purchasing an additional 126,790 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 26,262,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,788,448,000 after buying an additional 2,157,602 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Xcel Energy by 4.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,526,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,574,842,000 after buying an additional 807,353 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Xcel Energy by 2.9% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,191,204 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,108,006,000 after buying an additional 460,103 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Xcel Energy by 29.0% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,366,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $501,653,000 after buying an additional 1,654,505 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:XEL opened at $75.01 on Friday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.21 and a 12 month high of $83.01. The stock has a market cap of $44.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.87, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.46. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $76.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $75.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.25 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 20th. Investors of record on Monday, December 29th were issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 29th. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is presently 69.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on XEL. Argus raised shares of Xcel Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $86.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $80.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp cut their target price on Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $87.53.

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.