California Public Employees Retirement System Has $207.73 Million Stock Holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,355,336 shares of the company’s stock after selling 46,337 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.61% of Xcel Energy worth $207,729,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in XEL. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Capital Analysts LLC grew its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 293.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 433 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:XEL traded up $0.10 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $55.06. 497,791 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,346,188. The stock has a market cap of $30.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.36. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.79 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $54.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.85 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.44 billion for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.69 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.548 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change 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 3.98%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is presently 68.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

XEL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Barclays upgraded Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $61.00 to $54.00 in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, 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 research note on Monday, March 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” 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.