SIR Capital Management L.P. Buys 130,796 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

SIR Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 75.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 305,285 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 130,796 shares during the period. Xcel Energy comprises 2.5% of SIR Capital Management L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. SIR Capital Management L.P. owned about 0.05% of Xcel Energy worth $22,548,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 valued at $6,187,929,000 after purchasing an additional 2,001,018 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. bought a new position in Xcel Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $6,994,000. USA Financial Formulas lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 491.3% during the fourth quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 21,435 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,583,000 after purchasing an additional 17,810 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 135.3% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 2,017,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $162,729,000 after purchasing an additional 1,160,205 shares during the period. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 6.1% during the third quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,125,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $171,425,000 after purchasing an additional 122,487 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of XEL stock opened at $79.22 on Friday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.21 and a 12 month high of $84.23. The stock has a market cap of $49.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.44.

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

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.5925 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio is 68.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

XEL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $96.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $91.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $87.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Thursday, May 21st. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.63.

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.