Swiss National Bank Sells 81,100 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Swiss National Bank lessened its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 4.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,662,500 shares of the company’s stock after selling 81,100 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $134,081,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of XEL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 2.7% in 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 during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 0.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,144,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,344,295,000 after purchasing an additional 126,790 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 26,262,079 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,788,448,000 after buying an additional 2,157,602 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 4.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 21,026,015 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,695,748,000 after purchasing an additional 831,639 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,526,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,574,842,000 after buying an additional 807,353 shares during the period. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Xcel Energy Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:XEL opened at $81.88 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.58. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.21 and a 12-month high of $84.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.94, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.45.

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

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

XEL has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley set a $91.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, February 20th. Argus raised Xcel Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Xcel Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $81.00 to $89.00 in a report on Friday, February 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy presently 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.