Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Has $3.54 Million Position in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 37.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 47,946 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,979 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $3,541,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in XEL. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 28,851,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,326,872,000 after purchasing an additional 2,589,406 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 54.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,098,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $491,835,000 after purchasing an additional 2,145,063 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 2.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 76,725,720 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,187,929,000 after purchasing an additional 2,001,018 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Xcel Energy by 5.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,896,553 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,914,984,000 after buying an additional 1,752,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Xcel Energy by 29.0% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,366,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $501,653,000 after buying an additional 1,654,505 shares in the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 1.4%

XEL opened at $79.17 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $79.33 and a 200-day moving average of $78.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.21 and a 1-year high of $84.23.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96. The business had revenue of $3.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.77 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.76% and a return on equity of 10.46%. Xcel Energy’s revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.81 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is presently 69.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on XEL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Argus set a $86.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a report on Thursday, March 12th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $91.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $88.44.

Xcel Energy Company Profile

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ: XEL) is a Minneapolis-based, publicly traded utility holding company that develops, owns and operates regulated electricity and natural gas delivery systems. The company’s core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, the delivery of natural gas to customers, and related customer service operations. Xcel provides a mix of utility services to residential, commercial and industrial customers and participates in wholesale energy markets where appropriate.

Its generation portfolio combines nuclear, natural gas, coal and a growing share of renewable resources such as wind and solar.