Natixis Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Natixis Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 332,673 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,834 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.06% of Xcel Energy worth $24,571,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 7,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $593,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. TIAA Trust National Association increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 12,683 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,022,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 28,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,138,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co now owns 6,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $457,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. Finally, Intrust Bank NA increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 11,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $916,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the period. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:XEL opened at $77.77 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $84.23. The stock has a market cap of $48.55 billion, a PE ratio of 22.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.51.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $4.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $0.5925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is currently 68.30%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on XEL shares. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $96.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Argus set a $86.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Xcel Energy has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $90.63.

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.