Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) Shares Purchased by Trust Co. of Vermont

Trust Co. of Vermont raised its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 36.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,476 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 395 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $100,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the 4th quarter worth $256,000. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 19,538 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,319,000 after purchasing an additional 3,219 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 389.8% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 17,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,155,000 after buying an additional 13,615 shares during the period. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 28,617 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,932,000 after buying an additional 1,845 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on XEL. Barclays increased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $70.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $71.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.67.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 0.8 %

Xcel Energy stock opened at $66.72 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. Xcel Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $46.79 and a twelve month high of $73.38. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $68.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.58.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.93 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 13.67%. Xcel Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.23 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.5475 per share. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 6th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.99%.

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.