PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 252,275 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,442 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $15,618,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of XEL. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 298,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,448,000 after buying an additional 7,679 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Xcel Energy during the 4th quarter worth $896,000. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP grew its position in Xcel Energy by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 325,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,131,000 after purchasing an additional 11,709 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 47.7% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 115,016 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,121,000 after buying an additional 37,131 shares during the period. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP increased its position in Xcel Energy by 930.5% in the 3rd quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 45,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,627,000 after acquiring an additional 41,462 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on XEL shares. TheStreet cut shares of Xcel Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.27.

Xcel Energy Stock Down 1.0 %

XEL stock opened at $53.24 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.82. The company has a market cap of $29.58 billion, a PE ratio of 15.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.38. Xcel Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $46.79 and a twelve month high of $65.62.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.08. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 13.36%. The business had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, July 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.5475 dividend. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.77%.

Xcel Energy Profile

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.