Engineers Gate Manager LP Buys New Position in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 98,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,894,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in XEL. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 365.3% in the first quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. now owns 349 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the period. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Xcel Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Xcel Energy during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. First Bancorp Inc ME purchased a new position in Xcel Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Xcel Energy in the first quarter valued at $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:XEL opened at $75.41 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $47.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.66, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.35 and a fifty-two week high of $84.23.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.14. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 10.65%. The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.59 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a $0.5925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is 64.93%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on XEL. Jefferies Financial Group set a $101.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Monday, June 8th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Xcel Energy from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. New Street Research set a $91.00 price objective on Xcel Energy in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Xcel Energy from $92.00 to $89.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Xcel Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.41.

Xcel Energy Company Profile

Xcel Energy Inc is a Minneapolis-based electric and natural gas utility holding company that serves customers across parts of Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin. Through its operating companies, Xcel provides electricity generation, transmission and distribution, as well as natural gas distribution and related energy services.

The company operates a diversified generating fleet that includes wind, solar, hydroelectric, nuclear, natural gas and other resources.