92,421 Shares in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL Acquired by Entropy Technologies LP

Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 92,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,826,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,001,018 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the third quarter worth $6,994,000. USA Financial Formulas increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 491.3% during the fourth quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 21,435 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,583,000 after purchasing an additional 17,810 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 135.3% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 2,017,717 shares of the company’s stock worth $162,729,000 after purchasing an additional 1,160,205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 6.1% during the third quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,125,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,425,000 after purchasing an additional 122,487 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on XEL shares. Morgan Stanley set a $87.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Weiss Ratings raised Xcel Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. UBS Group upped their price target on Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Argus set a $86.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Monday, June 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.63.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of XEL opened at $79.22 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.45 billion, a PE ratio of 22.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.68. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.21 and a 1-year high of $84.23. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $79.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.44.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91. The firm had revenue of $4.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.21 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 14.14% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.84 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.5925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is 68.30%.

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.