Venture Visionary Partners LLC Sells 177 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Venture Visionary Partners LLC cut its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 3.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,520 shares of the company’s stock after selling 177 shares during the quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $295,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Procyon Advisors LLC grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 26.9% in the first quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 23,469 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,261,000 after purchasing an additional 4,970 shares in the last quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC bought a new position in Xcel Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $5,111,000. Stewart & Patten Co. LLC grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 1.5% in the first quarter. Stewart & Patten Co. LLC now owns 314,512 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,905,000 after purchasing an additional 4,589 shares in the last quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH bought a new position in Xcel Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $827,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 2.4% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,625,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,372,000 after purchasing an additional 38,653 shares in the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on XEL. UBS Group raised their price target on Xcel Energy from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Barclays raised their price objective on Xcel Energy from $57.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Xcel Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Xcel Energy from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Argus raised Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.29.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:XEL opened at $64.32 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $35.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.32, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $46.79 and a 1-year high of $65.64.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, October 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $0.548 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This is a boost from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.41%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is currently 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.