Venturi Wealth Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 21.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 9,059 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,611 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $612,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 6.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,143,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,445,477,000 after buying an additional 2,323,448 shares during the last quarter. Brookfield Corp ON raised its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 520.1% in the third quarter. Brookfield Corp ON now owns 2,509,031 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,840,000 after buying an additional 2,104,405 shares during the last quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the third quarter worth $64,301,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 6.2% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,190,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $991,956,000 after buying an additional 892,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 1,265.6% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 839,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,797,000 after buying an additional 777,696 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on XEL shares. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $71.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $71.00 to $76.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Xcel Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.91.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 0.8 %

XEL stock opened at $69.07 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $39.66 billion, a PE ratio of 20.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $67.04 and its 200 day moving average is $65.52. Xcel Energy Inc. has a one year low of $46.79 and a one year high of $73.38.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.06). Xcel Energy had a net margin of 14.40% and a return on equity of 10.65%. On average, research analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Monday, January 6th were given a dividend of $0.5475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, January 6th. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.66%.

Xcel Energy 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.