Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Sells 8,750 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. decreased its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 200,430 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,750 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $16,147,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,144,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,344,295,000 after purchasing an additional 126,790 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 9.0% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 26,262,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,788,448,000 after buying an additional 2,157,602 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 4.3% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,526,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,574,842,000 after buying an additional 807,353 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,191,204 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,108,006,000 after buying an additional 460,103 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 29.0% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,366,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $501,653,000 after buying an additional 1,654,505 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of Xcel Energy stock opened at $75.01 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.46. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $76.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.21 and a 1-year high of $83.01.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.32 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $3.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.89 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.45% and a net margin of 13.46%.The firm’s revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 29th were paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 29th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is currently 69.51%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on XEL. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 12th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $93.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $86.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Xcel Energy in a report on Monday, October 6th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $92.00 target price for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.53.

About Xcel Energy

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.