Wealth Alliance Grows Position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Wealth Alliance lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 88.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 13,305 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,262 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $824,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in XEL. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Capital Analysts LLC increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 293.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 433 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Barclays raised Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $61.00 to $54.00 in a report on Monday, March 11th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Wolfe Research raised Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Xcel Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.08.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

XEL opened at $52.53 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $29.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $46.79 and a 1-year high of $71.32. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $54.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.20.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $3.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.01 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.78% and a net margin of 12.47%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be given a $0.548 dividend. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.17%. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 68.22%.

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.