Entropy Technologies LP Makes New $6.83 Million Investment in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 92,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,826,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in Xcel Energy by 1.7% in the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 7,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $593,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association lifted its stake in Xcel Energy by 1.0% in the third quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 12,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,022,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Xcel Energy by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 28,949 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,138,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co lifted its stake in Xcel Energy by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co now owns 6,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $457,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keel Point LLC lifted its stake in Xcel Energy by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 5,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $405,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

XEL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley set a $87.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $90.63.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Xcel Energy stock opened at $79.22 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $79.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.77. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $84.23. The company has a market capitalization of $49.45 billion, a PE ratio of 22.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.39.

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

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.5925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is 68.30%.

Xcel Energy 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.