Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases 350,055 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 808.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 393,348 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 350,055 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $31,586,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 365.3% in the first quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. now owns 349 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. First Bancorp Inc ME acquired a new position in Xcel Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. grew its holdings in Xcel Energy by 73.8% during the 4th quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 471 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the first quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ XEL opened at $77.16 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $48.20 billion, a PE ratio of 21.14, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.70. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $79.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.77. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.29 and a fifty-two week high of $84.23.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 10.65%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.59 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

XEL has been the subject of several research reports. Mizuho set a $92.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Xcel Energy from $92.00 to $89.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $96.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Monday, May 4th. New Street Research set a $91.00 price objective on Xcel Energy in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price 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.