CWA Asset Management Group LLC Has $724,000 Stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 10.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,726 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,004 shares during the quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $724,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Centre Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC now owns 4,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 42.3% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 17,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 5,180 shares in the last quarter. Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Xcel Energy during the third quarter worth approximately $231,000. Copley Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Xcel Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $532,000. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 17.7% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 5,795 shares of the company’s stock worth $378,000 after buying an additional 873 shares in the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

XEL opened at $65.64 on Wednesday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.79 and a fifty-two week high of $73.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $68.55 and a 200 day moving average of $62.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market cap of $37.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.48, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.42.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.93 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 13.67%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.23 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.54 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 6th will be given a dividend of $0.5475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 6th. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

XEL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays boosted their target price on Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $71.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.17.

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.