Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 88,402 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio cut its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 29.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 216,497 shares of the company’s stock after selling 88,402 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $11,637,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,994,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,237,847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472,435 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,766,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $480,796,000 after buying an additional 261,426 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 770.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,552,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $405,955,000 after buying an additional 6,684,499 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,186,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $223,264,000 after buying an additional 74,690 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,171,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,345,000 after buying an additional 106,218 shares during the period. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. 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 research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced 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 note on Friday, April 19th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.00.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Xcel Energy stock traded up $0.34 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $57.70. 1,440,902 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,487,407. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.79 and a fifty-two week high of $64.25. The company has a market capitalization of $32.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.37. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $54.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.16.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.08. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 11.03%. The business had revenue of $3.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, July 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.5475 per share. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.