Freestone Grove Partners LP Makes New $64.10 Million Investment in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 798,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,102,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake 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 worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 73.8% in the fourth quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME acquired a new position in Xcel Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Advocate Investing Services LLC acquired a new position in Xcel Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $91.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of 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. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $96.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Xcel Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.41.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of XEL stock opened at $77.68 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $79.28 and a 200 day moving average of $79.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The stock has a market cap of $48.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.39. Xcel Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $71.29 and a twelve month high of $84.23.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.65% and a net margin of 15.28%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.59 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.12 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

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

Xcel Energy 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.