North Dakota State Investment Board Makes New Investment in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

North Dakota State Investment Board purchased a new position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 20,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,499,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $137,000. iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 73,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,432,000 after buying an additional 5,068 shares in the last quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the 4th quarter worth $486,000. Accredited Investors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 22,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,655,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan raised its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 30.2% during the 4th quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan now owns 13,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $999,000 after purchasing an additional 3,140 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

XEL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Xcel Energy from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $96.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Xcel Energy presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.94.

Xcel Energy Trading Up 2.1%

NASDAQ XEL opened at $79.73 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.64. The company has a market capitalization of $49.77 billion, a PE ratio of 22.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.21 and a 12 month high of $84.23.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 the consensus estimate of $4.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.5925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This is a boost from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 68.30%.

Xcel Energy Company 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.