BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Buys 40,495 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 61.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 106,378 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 40,495 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $5,682,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its position in Xcel Energy by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 21,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,354,000 after purchasing an additional 1,883 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 9,735 shares of the company’s stock valued at $603,000 after buying an additional 545 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,669 shares of the company’s stock valued at $351,000 after acquiring an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in Xcel Energy by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 214,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,298,000 after acquiring an additional 11,348 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 67.6% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 226,411 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,017,000 after acquiring an additional 91,346 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on XEL shares. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Xcel Energy from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Argus upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.14.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

XEL stock opened at $63.98 on Friday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $46.79 and a 1-year high of $64.95. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $60.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.20. The company has a market capitalization of $35.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.21, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.29 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.46% and a return on equity of 10.94%. Xcel Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, October 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.548 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.77%.

Xcel Energy Company 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.