19,501 Shares in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL Purchased by Westpac Banking Corp

Westpac Banking Corp purchased a new position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 19,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,566,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of XEL. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,890,136,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $433,927,000. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 63.6% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 9,979,397 shares of the company’s stock valued at $737,078,000 after acquiring an additional 3,881,011 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 16.9% in the 4th 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 period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Xcel Energy in the 2nd quarter worth $280,187,000. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $94.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Mizuho set a $92.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $96.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $101.00 price objective on Xcel Energy in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.41.

Xcel Energy Trading Down 3.1%

Shares of XEL opened at $76.30 on Friday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $71.29 and a 52-week high of $84.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $79.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.70. The stock has a market cap of $47.66 billion, a PE ratio of 20.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.39.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 10.65%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.59 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.12 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 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.93%.

About Xcel Energy

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.