Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 712,106 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA cut its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,814,767 shares of the company’s stock after selling 712,106 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $1,389,659,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $267,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in Xcel Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $381,000. Personal CFO Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 6,540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $483,000 after buying an additional 575 shares during the last quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,000 after buying an additional 326 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on XEL shares. Mizuho set a $86.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 12th. BTIG Research set a $94.00 price objective on Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Xcel Energy currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.44.

Xcel Energy Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ XEL opened at $82.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.71. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $80.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.71. 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 cap of $51.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.09, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.43.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.96. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.46% and a net margin of 13.76%.The firm had revenue of $3.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.81 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.30%.

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.