Anchor Capital Advisors LLC Has $52.01 Million Stock Position in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Anchor Capital Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 644,920 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,426 shares during the period. Xcel Energy comprises 1.5% of Anchor Capital Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC owned about 0.11% of Xcel Energy worth $52,013,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 35.4% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 35,803 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,438,000 after buying an additional 9,355 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 2,324.9% in 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 during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Xcel Energy by 94.0% during the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 31,131 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,511,000 after acquiring an additional 15,083 shares in the last quarter. VCI Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Xcel Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,176,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Xcel Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $9,196,000. 78.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Xcel Energy Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of Xcel Energy stock opened at $76.21 on Wednesday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.21 and a 1 year high of $83.01. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.68. The company has a market cap of $45.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.23, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $3.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.89 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.46% and a return on equity of 10.45%. Xcel Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 20th. Investors of record on Monday, December 29th were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 29th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

XEL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “underperform” rating and set a $84.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased 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 upgraded Xcel Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price target on Xcel Energy from $80.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI started coverage on Xcel Energy in a report on Monday, October 6th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $92.00 price objective on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.00.

About Xcel Energy

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.