BNP Paribas Financial Markets Boosts Holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 15.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,317,349 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 176,496 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned about 0.24% of Xcel Energy worth $70,808,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in XEL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 15.6% during the third 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 during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,994,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,237,847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472,435 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,766,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $480,796,000 after purchasing an additional 261,426 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,171,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $196,345,000 after purchasing an additional 106,218 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,954,907 shares of the company’s stock worth $182,643,000 after purchasing an additional 86,696 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Stock Down 0.1 %

XEL stock traded down $0.06 during trading on Friday, hitting $52.69. 1,653,017 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,811,577. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $46.79 and a 1 year high of $65.62. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $54.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.07. The stock has a market cap of $29.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. Xcel Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, July 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.5475 per share. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.00.

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.