Calamos Advisors LLC Has $10.62 Million Stock Position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Calamos Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 171,598 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,239 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $10,624,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in XEL. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the 1st quarter worth about $302,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,318,573 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,163,000 after acquiring an additional 104,140 shares during the period. Prudential PLC bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the 1st quarter worth about $1,385,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 33,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,424,000 after acquiring an additional 3,836 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $272,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares during the period. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on XEL shares. TheStreet cut shares of Xcel Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Xcel Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ XEL opened at $54.72 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.40 billion, a PE ratio of 17.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $46.79 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $54.16 and its 200-day moving average is $58.14.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.85 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.01 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 12.47% and a return on equity of 10.78%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.69 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a $0.548 dividend. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.22%.

Xcel Energy Profile

Xcel Energy Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, purchasing, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity. It operates through Regulated Electric Utility, Regulated Natural Gas Utility, and All Other segments. The company generates electricity through wind, nuclear, hydroelectric, biomass, and solar energy sources, as well as coal, natural gas, oil, wood, and refuse-derived fuels.