Bleakley Financial Group LLC Sells 1,662 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC cut its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 10.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,378 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,662 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $773,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,994,298 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,237,847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472,435 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 184.9% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,451,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,861,000 after buying an additional 942,097 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 247.8% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,284,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,511,000 after acquiring an additional 915,046 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 155.3% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,140,853 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,630,000 after acquiring an additional 693,921 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 1,936.7% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 601,141 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,217,000 after purchasing an additional 571,626 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Xcel Energy Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of XEL opened at $55.32 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market cap of $30.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.37. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.79 and a fifty-two week high of $65.62. The business has a 50-day moving average of $54.24 and a 200 day moving average of $55.56.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $3.65 billion for 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 business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, July 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.5475 per share. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on XEL. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Xcel Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.00.

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.