Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Buys 500 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,641 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $568,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in XEL. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,994,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,237,847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472,435 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 770.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,552,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $405,955,000 after buying an additional 6,684,499 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,186,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $223,264,000 after buying an additional 74,690 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,171,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,345,000 after buying an additional 106,218 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 2.4% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,625,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,372,000 after acquiring an additional 38,653 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of Xcel Energy stock opened at $61.23 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a fifty day moving average of $56.92 and a 200-day moving average of $55.17. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $46.79 and a 52-week high of $64.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.29 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 13.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.55 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, October 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.548 dividend. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

XEL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Argus raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Xcel Energy from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Xcel Energy from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.92.

About Xcel Energy

Xcel Energy Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, purchasing, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity. It operates through Regulated Electric Utility, Regulated Natural Gas Utility, and All Other segments. The company generates electricity through wind, nuclear, hydroelectric, biomass, and solar energy sources, as well as coal, natural gas, oil, wood, and refuse-derived fuels.