Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Buys 22,289 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 33.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 88,267 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 22,289 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $7,012,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in XEL. USA Financial Formulas boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 491.3% during the 4th quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 21,435 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,583,000 after purchasing an additional 17,810 shares during the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 6.8% in the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 2,357,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,116,000 after purchasing an additional 150,768 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 226.4% in the fourth quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA now owns 42,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,128,000 after purchasing an additional 29,376 shares in the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 175.0% in the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 29,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,351,000 after purchasing an additional 18,550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 38.5% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 277,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,410,000 after buying an additional 77,202 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on XEL. UBS Group upped their price target on Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $89.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $98.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.29.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of XEL stock opened at $81.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market cap of $51.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.39. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52 week low of $66.56 and a 52 week high of $84.23. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $78.63.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 14.14% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The firm had revenue of $4.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 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.