Neo Ivy Capital Management Takes Position in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 7,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $600,000.

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

Xcel Energy Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Xcel Energy stock opened at $82.52 on Friday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.21 and a 52-week high of $84.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.44. The firm has a market cap of $51.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.45.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.96. The firm had revenue of $3.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.77 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.76% and a return on equity of 10.46%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.81 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $91.00 price objective on Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Xcel Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Xcel Energy has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $88.60.

Xcel Energy Profile

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.