Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 71,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,648,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Longview Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the first quarter worth $203,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 14.7% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 12,427 shares of the company’s stock worth $987,000 after buying an additional 1,596 shares during the period. Corundum Group Inc. grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 34.6% in the first quarter. Corundum Group Inc. now owns 9,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $761,000 after acquiring an additional 2,465 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 85.6% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,398 shares of the company’s stock worth $826,000 after acquiring an additional 4,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 18.5% during the first quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 39,735 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,156,000 after purchasing an additional 6,191 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $96.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Argus set a $86.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on Xcel Energy from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Xcel Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.29.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of XEL stock opened at $82.23 on Friday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $66.56 and a 12 month high of $84.23. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.42. The firm has a market cap of $51.33 billion, a PE ratio of 23.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45.

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

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $0.5925 dividend. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.30%.

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.