Motco Sells 887 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Motco lessened its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL – Get Rating) by 22.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,124 shares of the company’s stock after selling 887 shares during the quarter. Motco’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $219,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. JSF Financial LLC raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. JSF Financial LLC now owns 8,535 shares of the company’s stock valued at $598,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $217,000. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 46.3% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 79,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,544,000 after acquiring an additional 25,012 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 57,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,014,000 after acquiring an additional 14,637 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evoke Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 155.2% during the fourth quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 2,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,000 after acquiring an additional 1,741 shares in the last quarter. 77.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Frank P. Prager sold 737 shares of Xcel Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $47,905.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,340 shares in the company, valued at $1,907,100. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Frank P. Prager sold 737 shares of Xcel Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $47,905.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,340 shares in the company, valued at $1,907,100. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy John O’connor sold 15,625 shares of Xcel Energy stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.59, for a total value of $1,087,343.75. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $452,195.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

XEL traded down $0.47 during trading on Friday, reaching $63.82. 573,519 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,750,010. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.37. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $56.89 and a 12-month high of $77.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.75. The company has a market cap of $35.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.90, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.43.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 10.78%. The firm had revenue of $4.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.76 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. Xcel Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.37 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 14th. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is 64.40%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 27th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $75.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $62.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.50.

About Xcel Energy

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Xcel Energy, Inc operates as a holding company engaged in the generation, purchase, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity. It operates through the following three segments: Regulated Electric Utility, Regulated Natural Gas Utility and All Others. The Regulated Electric Utility segment generates, transmits, and distributes electricity primarily in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico.