SG Americas Securities LLC Buys 697,074 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 131.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,229,339 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 697,074 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC owned approximately 0.21% of Xcel Energy worth $90,799,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 2.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 76,725,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,187,929,000 after buying an additional 2,001,018 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its holdings in Xcel Energy by 86.6% during the 3rd quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 41,406 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,339,000 after acquiring an additional 19,214 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. acquired a new stake in Xcel Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $6,994,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 2,324.9% in the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,716,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,884,000 after acquiring an additional 1,645,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VCI Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,176,000. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of XEL opened at $76.95 on Tuesday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a one year low of $65.21 and a one year high of $84.23. The company has a market cap of $48.01 billion, a PE ratio of 22.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $79.07 and a 200-day moving average of $78.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96. The business had revenue of $3.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.77 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.46% and a net margin of 13.76%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.81 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

XEL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Argus set a $86.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. BTIG Research set a $94.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, January 30th. Barclays dropped their price target on Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. UBS Group upgraded Xcel Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $81.00 to $89.00 in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $88.44.

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.