Rafferty Asset Management LLC Has $18.72 Million Position in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Rafferty Asset Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 232,052 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,677 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $18,715,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in XEL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 2.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 76,725,720 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,187,929,000 after buying an additional 2,001,018 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,144,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,344,295,000 after acquiring an additional 126,790 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Xcel Energy by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 26,262,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,788,448,000 after acquiring an additional 2,157,602 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 21,026,015 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,695,748,000 after purchasing an additional 831,639 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,526,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,574,842,000 after purchasing an additional 807,353 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on XEL. BTIG Research set a $94.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, January 30th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $81.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Argus upgraded shares of Xcel Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Mizuho set a $86.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.60.

Xcel Energy Trading Down 0.1%

XEL opened at $83.36 on Friday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.21 and a twelve month high of $84.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a fifty day moving average of $76.77 and a 200-day moving average of $77.07. The stock has a market cap of $52.01 billion, a PE ratio of 24.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.46.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.96. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.76% and a return on equity of 10.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.81 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.67%.

About Xcel Energy

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ: XEL) is a Minneapolis-based, publicly traded utility holding company that develops, owns and operates regulated electricity and natural gas delivery systems. The company’s core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, the delivery of natural gas to customers, and related customer service operations. Xcel provides a mix of utility services to residential, commercial and industrial customers and participates in wholesale energy markets where appropriate.

Its generation portfolio combines nuclear, natural gas, coal and a growing share of renewable resources such as wind and solar.