Park Place Capital Corp Cuts Stock Position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Park Place Capital Corp lowered its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,192 shares of the company’s stock after selling 419 shares during the quarter. Park Place Capital Corp’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $418,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Xcel Energy by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 189,954 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,404,000 after purchasing an additional 12,477 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 85.0% in the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 231,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,116,000 after acquiring an additional 106,326 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 64.4% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 27,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,805,000 after acquiring an additional 10,821 shares during the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 393.0% in the 3rd quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 317,117 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,708,000 after acquiring an additional 252,793 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $1,433,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of XEL opened at $66.97 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.46 billion, a PE ratio of 19.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.42. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $46.79 and a 1 year high of $73.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.86.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.26 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.93 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.67% and a return on equity of 10.76%. The firm’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.23 EPS. Analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 6th will be given a dividend of $0.5475 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 6th. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $71.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $71.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.50.

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.