11,276 Shares in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) Acquired by Everpar Advisors LLC

Everpar Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 11,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $698,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in XEL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 15.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,062,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,665,677,000 after purchasing an additional 8,644,054 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 16.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 18,521,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,059,821,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559,321 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 216.1% in the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,627,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,981,000 after purchasing an additional 1,112,510 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 184.9% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,451,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,861,000 after purchasing an additional 942,097 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 247.8% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,284,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,511,000 after buying an additional 915,046 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on XEL shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Xcel Energy from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of Xcel Energy stock traded up $0.66 on Tuesday, hitting $55.02. 4,676,223 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,351,011. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52 week low of $46.79 and a 52 week high of $69.85. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.36.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.08. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 11.03%. The company had revenue of $3.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. Xcel Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.548 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.98%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 65.77%.

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.