GSA Capital Partners LLP Takes $957,000 Position in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 12,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $957,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in XEL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Xcel Energy by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,610,805 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,732,334,000 after purchasing an additional 885,085 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,896,553 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,914,984,000 after acquiring an additional 1,752,296 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 9.9% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 28,851,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,326,872,000 after buying an additional 2,589,406 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 4.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 21,026,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,695,748,000 after buying an additional 831,639 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Xcel Energy by 5.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,782,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $627,688,000 after purchasing an additional 416,447 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ XEL opened at $81.08 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.64. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $84.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.91. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 14.14% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The business had revenue of $4.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.84 earnings per share. Xcel Energy’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a $0.5925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.30%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on XEL. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $96.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.63.

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.