nVerses Capital LLC Boosts Stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

by · The Markets Daily

nVerses Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL – Free Report) by 82.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,300 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 6,900 shares during the quarter. nVerses Capital LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $999,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 23.2% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 643,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,614,000 after purchasing an additional 121,118 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 2.4% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,625,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,372,000 after purchasing an additional 38,653 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 24.8% during the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 100,969 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,427,000 after purchasing an additional 20,068 shares in the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 91.6% during the first quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 190,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,245,000 after purchasing an additional 91,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 9.1% during the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 105,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,655,000 after purchasing an additional 8,790 shares in the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on XEL. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Xcel Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Xcel Energy from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Xcel Energy from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Xcel Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.57.

Read Our Latest Analysis on Xcel Energy

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

XEL traded down $0.86 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $63.15. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 522,312 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,136,094. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.79 and a fifty-two week high of $65.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.09 billion, a PE ratio of 19.22, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.39.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.03). Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.46% and a return on equity of 10.94%. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.55 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, October 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.548 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This is a boost from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.47%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.77%.

About Xcel Energy

(Free Report)

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.

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