OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp Takes $31.86 Million Position in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp bought a new stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 396,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,862,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in XEL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,610,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,732,334,000 after purchasing an additional 885,085 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $4,890,136,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,340,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,704,534,000 after buying an additional 444,092 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 29,441,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,338,858,000 after buying an additional 1,637,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 24,572,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,814,920,000 after buying an additional 3,546,423 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ XEL opened at $76.30 on Monday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.29 and a 1 year high of $84.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $79.35 and its 200-day moving average is $79.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.66 billion, a PE ratio of 20.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.39.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.14. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 10.65%. The business had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.59 earnings per share. Xcel Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.12 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.5925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is presently 64.93%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on XEL shares. Jefferies Financial Group set a $101.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Xcel Energy from $92.00 to $89.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.41.

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.