Sapient Capital LLC Invests $1.27 Million in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Sapient Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 15,855 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,274,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in XEL. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC boosted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 25.2% in the second quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 95,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,652,000 after acquiring an additional 19,196 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 58,481 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,696,000 after purchasing an additional 3,787 shares during the period. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 177,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,269,000 after purchasing an additional 16,588 shares in the last quarter. PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 9.7% during the second quarter. PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab now owns 125,350 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,066,000 after buying an additional 11,100 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 6,158.2% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,173,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,215,000 after buying an additional 1,154,535 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

XEL has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $91.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Xcel Energy from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Mizuho set a $92.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Monday, June 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $92.76.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

XEL stock opened at $76.87 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $69.16 and a 12-month high of $84.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.02 billion, a PE ratio of 21.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.39.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.14. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.65% and a net margin of 15.28%.The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.59 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.5925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.93%.

About Xcel Energy

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.