Vestor Capital LLC Sells 621 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Vestor Capital LLC lowered its stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 26.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,771 shares of the company’s stock after selling 621 shares during the quarter. Vestor Capital LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $110,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of XEL. Wrapmanager Inc. purchased a new stake in Xcel Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $283,000. Hills Bank & Trust Co increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co now owns 5,796 shares of the company’s stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Xcel Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $232,000. National Pension Service grew its position in Xcel Energy by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,261,468 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,097,000 after acquiring an additional 38,274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 325,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,131,000 after purchasing an additional 11,709 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ XEL traded up $0.31 on Thursday, reaching $55.24. The company had a trading volume of 4,350,946 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,315,395. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.69 billion, a PE ratio of 16.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.36. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $46.79 and a 12 month high of $69.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $53.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.81.

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

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.548 per share. 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 dividend yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on XEL. TheStreet lowered Xcel Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Wolfe Research upgraded Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Profile

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.