Korea Investment CORP Cuts Position in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Korea Investment CORP reduced its stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 417,395 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,294 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $33,663,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in Xcel Energy during the fourth quarter worth $240,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 30.7% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 13,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $978,000 after buying an additional 3,242 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 40.7% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 48,515 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,434,000 after buying an additional 14,029 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 32,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,914 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AE Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 29.4% in the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,336 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,657,000 after acquiring an additional 5,528 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on XEL shares. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Xcel Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday. BTIG Research set a $94.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Argus upgraded Xcel Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $88.60.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ:XEL opened at $82.10 on Tuesday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.21 and a 12-month high of $84.23. The firm has a market cap of $51.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.45. The company’s 50-day moving average is $77.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96. The business had revenue of $3.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.77 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.76% and a return on equity of 10.46%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.81 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.5925 dividend. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

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.