Viking Fund Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Viking Fund Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 13.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 190,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 30,000 shares during the period. Xcel Energy makes up about 1.6% of Viking Fund Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Viking Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $14,033,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of XEL. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 28,851,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,326,872,000 after purchasing an additional 2,589,406 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 54.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,098,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $491,835,000 after buying an additional 2,145,063 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Xcel Energy by 2.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 76,725,720 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,187,929,000 after buying an additional 2,001,018 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Xcel Energy by 5.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,896,553 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,914,984,000 after buying an additional 1,752,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 29.0% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,366,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $501,653,000 after acquiring an additional 1,654,505 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $93.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. BTIG Research set a $94.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $88.44.

Xcel Energy Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of XEL stock opened at $77.96 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $79.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.10. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.21 and a 12-month high of $84.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market cap of $48.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.45.

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

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.5925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.30%.

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.