Forsta AP Fonden Sells 10,600 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Forsta AP Fonden reduced its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 7.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 127,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,600 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $9,380,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in XEL. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Abound Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 394.5% in the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 361 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the period. Beacon Financial Strategies CORP acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 73.8% in the fourth quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 471 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Collier Financial acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of XEL opened at $79.50 on Monday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.21 and a 52-week high of $84.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.77. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $79.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.60. The firm has a market cap of $49.63 billion, a PE ratio of 22.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.39.

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 return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 14.14%.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 firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.5925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is 68.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on XEL. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $96.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Monday, May 4th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays cut their price objective on Xcel Energy from $91.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $87.00 price objective on Xcel Energy in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Three equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $90.63.

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.