KLCM Advisors Inc. Has $795,000 Stock Position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

KLCM Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,839 shares of the company’s stock after selling 663 shares during the quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $795,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in XEL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 15.6% in 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 in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $576,873,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $231,020,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 16.0% in the third 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. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 165.3% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,899,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,159,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,298 shares in the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Xcel Energy stock traded up $0.50 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $53.03. The company had a trading volume of 1,567,962 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,442,016. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $54.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.20. The stock has a market cap of $29.46 billion, a PE ratio of 16.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $46.79 and a 1-year high of $71.32.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.85 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.01 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.78% and a net margin of 12.47%. The company’s revenue was down 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.69 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a $0.548 dividend. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.13%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.08.

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.