Oak Thistle LLC Raises Stake in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Oak Thistle LLC raised its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 876.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,566 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 32,823 shares during the quarter. Oak Thistle LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $2,701,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 2.7% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $6,994,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 86.6% during the 3rd quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 41,406 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,339,000 after buying an additional 19,214 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 2,324.9% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,716,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,884,000 after buying an additional 1,645,571 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VCI Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,176,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Argus set a $86.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, BTIG Research set a $94.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Three 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $88.44.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:XEL opened at $80.54 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $50.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.43. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $79.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.60. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.21 and a 1-year high of $84.23.

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, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96. The firm had revenue of $3.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.77 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.76% and a return on equity of 10.46%. Xcel Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.81 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is an increase 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.