Proquility Private Wealth Partners LLC Sells 669 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Proquility Private Wealth Partners LLC lessened its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 1.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 37,201 shares of the company’s stock after selling 669 shares during the quarter. Proquility Private Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $2,429,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of XEL. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Xcel Energy by 770.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,552,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $405,955,000 after acquiring an additional 6,684,499 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 1.8% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,186,101 shares of the company’s stock worth $223,264,000 after buying an additional 74,690 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 120.2% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,379,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,095,000 after buying an additional 1,299,025 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 130.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,084,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,325,000 after buying an additional 1,179,823 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,854,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,046,000 after acquiring an additional 174,653 shares during the period. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Xcel Energy Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of XEL stock opened at $63.43 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $35.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.05, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.39. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.79 and a fifty-two week high of $65.64. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.29 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.46% and a return on equity of 10.94%. The firm’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.52 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, October 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.548 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.46%. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is 65.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on XEL. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Xcel Energy from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Xcel Energy from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, August 26th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.36.

Xcel Energy Profile

Xcel Energy Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, purchasing, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity. It operates through Regulated Electric Utility, Regulated Natural Gas Utility, and All Other segments. The company generates electricity through wind, nuclear, hydroelectric, biomass, and solar energy sources, as well as coal, natural gas, oil, wood, and refuse-derived fuels.