Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL Shares Sold by Verition Fund Management LLC

Verition Fund Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 653,440 shares of the company’s stock after selling 25,514 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC owned 0.11% of Xcel Energy worth $48,263,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,881,011 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 24,572,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,814,920,000 after buying an additional 3,546,423 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Xcel Energy by 9.9% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 28,851,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,326,872,000 after acquiring an additional 2,589,406 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 76,725,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,187,929,000 after acquiring an additional 2,001,018 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 4,530.7% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,024,541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,538,000 after acquiring an additional 1,980,821 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on XEL shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Xcel Energy from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 14th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Monday, June 8th. UBS Group upped their price target on Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Argus set a $86.00 price objective on Xcel Energy in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.63.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

XEL stock opened at $79.22 on Monday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.21 and a 1 year high of $84.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.83, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.77. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $79.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.43.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91. The business had revenue of $4.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.21 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 14.14% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. On average, research analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $0.5925 dividend. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend 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%.

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.