Empowered Funds LLC Acquires 13,804 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 84.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,068 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,804 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $2,389,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,610,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,732,334,000 after buying an additional 885,085 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Xcel Energy by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,340,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,704,534,000 after acquiring an additional 444,092 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Xcel Energy by 9.0% in 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 in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 16.9% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,496,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,214,035,000 after acquiring an additional 126,498 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Xcel Energy Trading Down 0.7%

NASDAQ XEL opened at $77.20 on Thursday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $69.16 and a 1-year high of $84.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $79.33 and a 200-day moving average of $79.53. The firm has a market cap of $48.22 billion, a PE ratio of 21.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.39.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.65% and a net margin of 15.28%.Xcel Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.59 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a $0.5925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.93%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on XEL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Xcel Energy from $91.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Xcel Energy from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $101.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $89.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently 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.