Renaissance Technologies LLC Boosts Holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 163.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 543,600 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 337,500 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned about 0.09% of Xcel Energy worth $43,184,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in XEL. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 63.6% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 9,979,397 shares of the company’s stock worth $737,078,000 after buying an additional 3,881,011 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 24,572,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,814,920,000 after acquiring an additional 3,546,423 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 37.1% during the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 8,871,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $704,780,000 after acquiring an additional 2,399,089 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 9.0% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 26,262,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,788,448,000 after acquiring an additional 2,157,602 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 4,530.7% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,024,541 shares of the company’s stock worth $149,538,000 after acquiring an additional 1,980,821 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Xcel Energy Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:XEL opened at $80.71 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $79.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.77. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $69.16 and a 1-year high of $84.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 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 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

XEL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $101.00 price objective on Xcel Energy in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $96.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Monday, May 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $89.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Xcel Energy from $91.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $92.65.

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.