Heartland Advisors Inc. Decreases Stake in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Heartland Advisors Inc. decreased its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 7.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 109,177 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,969 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $8,673,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Heartland Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $288,000. Simon Quick Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 13.2% during the first quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 52,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,176,000 after acquiring an additional 6,133 shares during the last quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. bought a new stake in Xcel Energy during the first quarter worth $3,511,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 5.0% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 17,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,397,000 after acquiring an additional 843 shares during the period. Finally, Prosperity Consulting Group LLC lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 4.1% during the first quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 10,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $869,000 after acquiring an additional 436 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of XEL opened at $78.77 on Friday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.16 and a 1 year high of $84.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $79.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.05. The firm has a market cap of $49.17 billion, a PE ratio of 22.70, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.39.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.91. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 14.14%.The company had revenue of $4.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on XEL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Xcel Energy from $91.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen cut Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $96.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Xcel Energy has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.76.

Xcel Energy Company 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.