CENTRAL TRUST Co Boosts Stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 27.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,786 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,309 shares during the quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $704,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 770.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,552,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $405,955,000 after buying an additional 6,684,499 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,186,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $223,264,000 after purchasing an additional 74,690 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 120.2% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,379,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,095,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,025 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 130.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,084,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,325,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179,823 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 10.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,854,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,046,000 after buying an additional 174,653 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Xcel Energy stock opened at $64.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.79. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $46.79 and a 12 month high of $65.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.94 billion, a PE ratio of 19.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.39.

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

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, October 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $0.548 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is 65.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on XEL. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $57.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, 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 research note on Monday, August 26th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.54.

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.