Bank of Montreal Can Boosts Stock Holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 127.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,449,967 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 811,360 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can owned about 0.25% of Xcel Energy worth $116,940,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of XEL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 worth $6,187,929,000 after buying an additional 2,001,018 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,144,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,344,295,000 after buying an additional 126,790 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Xcel Energy by 9.0% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 26,262,079 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,788,448,000 after acquiring an additional 2,157,602 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Xcel Energy by 4.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 21,026,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,695,748,000 after acquiring an additional 831,639 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Xcel Energy by 4.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,526,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,574,842,000 after acquiring an additional 807,353 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Xcel Energy Stock Down 1.1%

XEL stock opened at $81.00 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $50.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.68, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. Xcel Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.21 and a twelve month high of $84.23. The company’s 50 day moving average is $78.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.61.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.96. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.76% and a return on equity of 10.46%. The business had revenue of $3.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $0.5925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. This is a boost from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on XEL shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $81.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Mizuho set a $86.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price target on Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Xcel Energy currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $88.60.

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.