Merit Financial Group LLC Purchases 3,543 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 20.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,651 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,543 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $1,462,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Rothschild Investment LLC increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 26.0% during the fourth quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 731 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 1,860.0% during the fourth quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 744 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on XEL. Wall Street Zen downgraded Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley set a $78.00 price objective on Xcel Energy and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.90.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Xcel Energy stock opened at $68.51 on Friday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a one year low of $51.97 and a one year high of $73.38. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $69.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.92, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.37.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.11). Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.65% and a net margin of 14.40%. The company had revenue of $3.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. Xcel Energy’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, July 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 67.06%.

Insider Activity at Xcel Energy

In other news, Director Devin W. Stockfish purchased 2,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $68.93 per share, with a total value of $149,578.10. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,007 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,272.51. This trade represents a 259.26% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.