Nicolet Advisory Services LLC Purchases 2,277 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Nicolet Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 55.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,362 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,277 shares during the quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $346,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 298,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,448,000 after buying an additional 7,679 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter worth $896,000. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 325,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,131,000 after buying an additional 11,709 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 47.7% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 115,016 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,121,000 after buying an additional 37,131 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 23.2% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 643,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,614,000 after buying an additional 121,118 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on XEL. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Xcel Energy from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Xcel Energy from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Barclays lifted their target price on Xcel Energy from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.00.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 0.3 %

XEL traded up $0.16 on Friday, hitting $55.94. The company had a trading volume of 3,043,940 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,589,317. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $54.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.47. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $46.79 and a 12-month high of $65.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.37.

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

Xcel Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, July 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $0.5475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.91%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.77%.

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.