Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd Purchases 42,711 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 91.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 89,215 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 42,711 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $7,195,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the second quarter worth about $25,000. ORG Partners LLC increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 168.4% during the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 314 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Xcel Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. First Command Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in Xcel Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Collier Financial acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on XEL. BTIG Research set a $94.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded Xcel Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday. Mizuho set a $86.00 price objective on Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, UBS Group raised Xcel Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $81.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.44.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ XEL opened at $76.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The business has a 50-day moving average of $79.01 and a 200-day moving average of $77.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.45, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.45. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $84.23.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.96. The business 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%.Xcel Energy’s revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.81 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.5925 dividend. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This is a boost from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is currently 69.30%.

Xcel Energy Company 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.