Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) Shares Sold by Sheets Smith Wealth Management

Sheets Smith Wealth Management cut its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 7.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,599 shares of the company’s stock after selling 830 shares during the period. Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $656,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of XEL. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 26,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,610,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 20,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,274,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 29.1% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its holdings in Xcel Energy by 20.1% during the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 70,411 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,359,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on XEL shares. StockNews.com upgraded Xcel Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wolfe Research upgraded 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. Bank of America raised their price objective on Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, TheStreet lowered Xcel Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

XEL stock traded up $0.07 during trading on Monday, hitting $54.32. The company had a trading volume of 2,422,420 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,329,455. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. The company has a market cap of $30.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $53.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.89. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.79 and a fifty-two week high of $69.85.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 13.36%. The firm’s revenue was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.548 dividend. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 65.77%.

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.