SG Americas Securities LLC Sells 758,040 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

SG Americas Securities LLC lowered its stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 61.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 471,299 shares of the company’s stock after selling 758,040 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $37,440,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in XEL. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Xcel Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Abound Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 394.5% in the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Beacon Financial Strategies CORP purchased a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Pittenger & Anderson Inc. increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 73.8% during the 4th quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on XEL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Xcel Energy from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley set a $87.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. New Street Research set a $91.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.94.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 1.9%

NASDAQ:XEL opened at $80.33 on Wednesday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $66.56 and a 1-year high of $84.23. The company has a 50-day moving average of $79.36 and a 200 day moving average of $78.34. The firm has a market cap of $50.15 billion, a PE ratio of 23.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.91. The company had revenue of $4.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.21 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 14.14% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.84 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.5925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.30%.

Xcel Energy Company 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.