Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Grows Stock Holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd grew its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 11.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,849 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $296,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Xcel Energy by 15.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,062,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,665,677,000 after acquiring an additional 8,644,054 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Xcel Energy by 16.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 18,521,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,059,821,000 after acquiring an additional 2,559,321 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Xcel Energy by 8.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,504,622 shares of the company’s stock worth $429,414,000 after acquiring an additional 583,318 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Xcel Energy by 1.6% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,739,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $328,396,000 after acquiring an additional 90,819 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 11.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,303,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $303,440,000 after buying an additional 550,508 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Xcel Energy Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of XEL stock opened at $55.24 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $53.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $46.79 and a 1-year high of $70.97. The firm has a market cap of $30.68 billion, a PE ratio of 17.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.36.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.85 by ($0.02). Xcel Energy had a net margin of 12.47% and a return on equity of 10.78%. The business had revenue of $3.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.69 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.548 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.97%. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is currently 68.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 11th. TheStreet cut shares of Xcel Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.83.

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.