Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL Shares Bought by Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 6.1% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 314,242 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,167 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $25,234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in XEL. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 73.8% in the 4th quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Advocate Investing Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on XEL shares. Barclays increased their target price on Xcel Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Xcel Energy from $92.00 to $89.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 21st. New Street Research set a $91.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Monday, June 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $92.41.

Xcel Energy Stock Down 0.9%

XEL opened at $76.45 on Friday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52 week low of $71.29 and a 52 week high of $84.23. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $79.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The company has a market cap of $47.75 billion, a PE ratio of 20.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.39.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 10.65%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.59 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.12 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

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