First National Advisers LLC Buys 4,006 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

First National Advisers LLC grew its stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 22.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 21,690 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,006 shares during the quarter. First National Advisers LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $1,342,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Xcel Energy by 15.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,062,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,665,677,000 after acquiring an additional 8,644,054 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 16.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 18,521,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,059,821,000 after buying an additional 2,559,321 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 216.1% in the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,627,320 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,981,000 after buying an additional 1,112,510 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Xcel Energy by 184.9% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,451,483 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,861,000 after buying an additional 942,097 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 247.8% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,284,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,511,000 after acquiring an additional 915,046 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Trading Down 0.6 %

XEL stock traded down $0.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $55.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,092,822 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,227,675. The company has a market cap of $30.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.36. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $46.79 and a 12 month high of $66.52. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $53.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $3.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 11.03%. Xcel Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.548 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.95%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on XEL shares. Wolfe Research raised Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 11th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.83.

About Xcel Energy

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.