26,038 Shares in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL Bought by Pallas Capital Advisors LLC

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 26,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,091,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in XEL. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 2,324,667 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,700,000 after purchasing an additional 356,208 shares during the last quarter. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co purchased a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,477,000. Electron Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,936,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,044,000 after buying an additional 255,884 shares in the last quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 3,579,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $264,413,000 after buying an additional 415,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,496,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,214,035,000 after buying an additional 126,498 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

XEL stock opened at $79.21 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.66. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $71.29 and a 12-month high of $84.23. The firm has a market cap of $49.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.59 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a $0.5925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is 64.93%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $91.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. New Street Research set a $91.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $92.41.

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.