Bailard Inc. Purchases 1,495 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Bailard Inc. grew its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 14.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,005 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,495 shares during the period. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $743,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $696,000 after purchasing an additional 794 shares during the period. Bfsg LLC acquired a new stake in Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $62,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 89,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,527,000 after purchasing an additional 634 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 4,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the period. Finally, First National Bank Sioux Falls acquired a new stake in Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $211,000. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ XEL opened at $53.96 on Friday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.79 and a fifty-two week high of $70.72. The stock has a market cap of $29.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.20, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.07.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.08. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 11.12%. The firm had revenue of $3.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.548 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.06%. This is a boost from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on XEL shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Wolfe Research upgraded Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 11th. KeyCorp decreased their price target on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. TheStreet downgraded Xcel Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.58.

About Xcel Energy

Xcel Energy Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, purchasing, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity. It operates through Regulated Electric Utility, Regulated Natural Gas Utility, and All Other segments. The company generates electricity through wind, nuclear, hydroelectric, biomass, and solar energy sources, as well as coal, natural gas, oil, wood, and refuse-derived fuels.