Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Has $5.01 Million Stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 10.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 80,901 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,652 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $5,008,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in XEL. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Xcel Energy during the first quarter valued at approximately $302,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,318,573 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,163,000 after buying an additional 104,140 shares during the period. Prudential PLC purchased a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $1,385,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 12.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 33,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,424,000 after acquiring an additional 3,836 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 8.8% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $272,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on XEL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. TheStreet lowered shares of Xcel Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $61.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:XEL opened at $54.72 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.40 billion, a PE ratio of 17.05, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.36. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $46.79 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.14.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by ($0.02). Xcel Energy had a net margin of 12.47% and a return on equity of 10.78%. The firm had revenue of $3.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.548 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.01%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is 68.22%.

About Xcel Energy

Xcel Energy Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, purchasing, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity. It operates through Regulated Electric Utility, Regulated Natural Gas Utility, and All Other segments. The company generates electricity through wind, nuclear, hydroelectric, biomass, and solar energy sources, as well as coal, natural gas, oil, wood, and refuse-derived fuels.