335,695 Shares in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL Purchased by Korea Investment CORP

Korea Investment CORP acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 335,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,956,000. Korea Investment CORP owned about 0.05% of Xcel Energy at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,610,805 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,732,334,000 after buying an additional 885,085 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Xcel Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,890,136,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,340,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,704,534,000 after acquiring an additional 444,092 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 5.9% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 29,441,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,338,858,000 after acquiring an additional 1,637,890 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 24,572,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,814,920,000 after acquiring an additional 3,546,423 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Xcel Energy Stock Down 3.1%

Xcel Energy stock opened at $76.30 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.29 and a fifty-two week high of $84.23.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 10.65%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.59 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.12 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a $0.5925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.93%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on XEL. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Mizuho set a $92.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $101.00 price objective on Xcel Energy in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $96.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $92.41.

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.