Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC Increases Stock Position in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 29.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,968,459 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 449,299 shares during the quarter. Xcel Energy makes up about 2.3% of Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $158,756,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 6.8% in the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 2,357,297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $190,116,000 after acquiring an additional 150,768 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 23.6% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,996,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $241,663,000 after acquiring an additional 572,050 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 90.8% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,353,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $109,198,000 after purchasing an additional 644,269 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 22.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,692,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $539,740,000 after purchasing an additional 1,243,890 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 7,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $593,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ XEL opened at $81.00 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.71. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $84.23. The stock has a market cap of $50.53 billion, a PE ratio of 23.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $78.13 and a 200-day moving average of $77.61.

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

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on XEL. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Mizuho set a $86.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, January 9th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Xcel Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Three investment 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.60.

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.