Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL Stock Position Boosted by Savvy Advisors Inc.

Savvy Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 75.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,058 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 10,361 shares during the period. Savvy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $1,777,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in XEL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 2.7% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $6,994,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 86.6% in the 3rd quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 41,406 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,339,000 after buying an additional 19,214 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 2,324.9% in the 2nd 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 shares of Xcel Energy in the third quarter valued at $1,176,000. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

XEL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, February 6th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $93.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Argus set a $86.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $88.44.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

XEL stock opened at $80.74 on Monday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.21 and a 52-week high of $84.23. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.48. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $50.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.43.

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

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.5925 dividend. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. This is a boost from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is 69.30%.

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.