Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL Shares Purchased by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 38.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,033,733 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 286,570 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.17% of Xcel Energy worth $76,352,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 156,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,536,000 after acquiring an additional 4,413 shares during the last quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 76.2% in the fourth quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC now owns 6,864 shares of the company’s stock valued at $507,000 after acquiring an additional 2,968 shares during the last quarter. Dougherty & Associates LLC acquired a new position in Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $232,000. North Dakota State Investment Board acquired a new position in Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,499,000. Finally, Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $137,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

XEL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BTIG Research set a $94.00 price objective on Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, January 30th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $90.94.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 2.1%

NASDAQ:XEL opened at $79.73 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $79.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.64. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $84.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.41.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 14.14%.The company had revenue of $4.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This is a boost from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.30%.

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.