Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Has $9.20 Million Stake in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 8.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 124,567 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,588 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $9,201,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 7,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $593,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 12,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,022,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 28,949 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,138,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co now owns 6,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $457,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. Finally, Intrust Bank NA lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 11,360 shares of the company’s stock worth $916,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

XEL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $87.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a report on Thursday, May 21st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $96.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Xcel Energy from $91.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $90.63.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Xcel Energy stock opened at $77.87 on Wednesday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a one year low of $65.21 and a one year high of $84.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.44, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 14.14%.The business had revenue of $4.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is presently 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.