Reinhart Partners LLC. Reduces Stake in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Reinhart Partners LLC. lowered its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 27.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 85,136 shares of the company’s stock after selling 32,710 shares during the quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $6,288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 7,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $593,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. TIAA Trust National Association lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 12,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,022,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 28,949 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,138,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co now owns 6,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $457,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. Finally, Intrust Bank NA lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 11,360 shares of the company’s stock worth $916,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on XEL. Morgan Stanley set a $87.00 price objective on Xcel Energy in a report on Thursday, May 21st. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Argus set a $86.00 price objective on Xcel Energy in a report on Thursday, March 12th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Xcel Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $90.63.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:XEL opened at $77.87 on Wednesday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.21 and a 52-week high of $84.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $79.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.77.

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

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $0.5925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.30%.

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.