CWA Asset Management Group LLC Sells 9,384 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

CWA Asset Management Group LLC cut its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 56.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,232 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,384 shares during the quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in XEL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of 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. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 86.6% in the third quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 41,406 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,339,000 after purchasing an additional 19,214 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. bought a new position in Xcel Energy in the third quarter worth $6,994,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 2,324.9% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Finally, VCI Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Xcel Energy during the third quarter worth $1,176,000. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:XEL opened at $76.95 on Tuesday. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $79.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.06. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $84.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.45.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.46% and a net margin of 13.76%.The company had revenue of $3.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.77 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.81 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on XEL shares. Mizuho set a $86.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, January 9th. 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 report on Thursday, December 11th. BTIG Research set a $94.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $91.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.44.

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.