First Trust Advisors LP Cuts Holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

First Trust Advisors LP lessened its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 33.4% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 981,419 shares of the company’s stock after selling 493,190 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $77,964,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 365.3% during the 1st 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 period. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Xcel Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. grew its holdings in Xcel Energy by 73.8% during the 4th quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of XEL opened at $81.67 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $79.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.26. The firm has a market cap of $50.98 billion, a PE ratio of 23.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.39. 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 $69.16 and a fifty-two week high of $84.23.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91. The business had revenue of $4.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.21 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 14.14% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The business’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.5925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is 68.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Xcel Energy from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $98.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.65.

Key Xcel Energy News

Here are the key news stories impacting Xcel Energy this week:

• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp reiterated an Overweight rating on Xcel Energy and raised its longer-term earnings estimates, including FY2027, FY2028, FY2029, and FY2030, signaling confidence in the utility’s multi-year growth profile.
• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp also lifted its FY2029 EPS forecast to $5.34 from $5.13 and FY2028 EPS to $4.89 from $4.77, which supports the view that earnings can improve steadily over time.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary also pointed to Xcel as potentially undervalued relative to its earnings and dividend profile, with additional investor focus on clean energy spending and AI-driven power demand as possible longer-term tailwinds.
• Neutral Sentiment: KeyCorp’s near-term FY2026 EPS estimate was slightly reduced to $4.12 from $4.13, a small change that does not materially alter the broader thesis.
• Neutral Sentiment: Other recent coverage included Morgan Stanley reiterating a Hold rating and Zacks noting the company is due to report earnings next week, keeping attention centered on the upcoming results rather than any major new fundamental shock.

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.