California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 46,337 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,355,336 shares of the company’s stock after selling 46,337 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $207,729,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC increased its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 26,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,610,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 20,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,274,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 29.1% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 812 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 20.1% during the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 70,411 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,359,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

XEL stock traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $55.06. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 497,791 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,346,188. The company’s 50 day moving average is $54.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.15. The stock has a market cap of $30.58 billion, a PE ratio of 17.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.79 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $3.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $0.69 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.548 dividend. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Barclays upgraded Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $61.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Monday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price target on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Xcel Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Company 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.