Tidal Investments LLC Buys 273,749 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 118.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 505,096 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 273,749 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $40,559,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.7% during the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 7,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $593,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 28,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,138,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co now owns 6,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $457,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Keel Point LLC increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 5,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $405,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the period. Finally, KCM Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $600,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Trading Down 0.9%

XEL stock opened at $76.19 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.59 billion, a PE ratio of 20.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.39. Xcel Energy Inc. has a one year low of $71.35 and a one year high of $84.23. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $78.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.70.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.14. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 10.65%. The company had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.59 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.93%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

XEL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $92.00 to $89.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 21st. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Xcel Energy has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.41.

About Xcel Energy

Xcel Energy Inc is a Minneapolis-based electric and natural gas utility holding company that serves customers across parts of Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin. Through its operating companies, Xcel provides electricity generation, transmission and distribution, as well as natural gas distribution and related energy services.

The company operates a diversified generating fleet that includes wind, solar, hydroelectric, nuclear, natural gas and other resources.