Employees Retirement System of Texas Purchases New Position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Employees Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 53,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,831,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Epiq Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.7% during the first quarter. Epiq Partners LLC now owns 29,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,563,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in Xcel Energy by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 16,054 shares of the company’s stock valued at $863,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 6,249 shares of the company’s stock valued at $364,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. grew its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 2.0% in the second quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 12,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $645,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the period. Finally, Moody National Bank Trust Division raised its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 7.5% during the first quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 3,820 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Xcel Energy Stock Down 0.3 %

XEL opened at $63.98 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $35.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $60.49 and its 200 day moving average is $56.20. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.79 and a fifty-two week high of $64.95.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.03). Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.46% and a return on equity of 10.94%. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. Xcel Energy’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.55 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.548 per share. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Argus raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, August 26th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective 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 increased their target price on Xcel Energy from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Xcel Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.14.

About Xcel Energy

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.