Alta Advisers Ltd Buys New Shares in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Alta Advisers Ltd bought a new stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 3,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $52,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the first quarter valued at about $53,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Wealth Advisors grew its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 160.0% during the fourth quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors now owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

XEL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Xcel Energy from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on Xcel Energy from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Xcel Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $78.00 price objective on Xcel Energy and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.80.

Xcel Energy Trading Down 1.7%

NASDAQ XEL opened at $67.56 on Thursday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $51.97 and a fifty-two week high of $73.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.57. The stock has a market cap of $38.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.36.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.95 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $3.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.93 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 14.10%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, July 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is presently 67.06%.

Xcel Energy Profile

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.