ProShare Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report) by 23.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 643,986 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 121,118 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC owned about 0.12% of Xcel Energy worth $34,614,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,994,298 shares of the company's stock worth $1,237,847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472,435 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,766,048 shares of the company's stock worth $480,796,000 after buying an additional 261,426 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,171,463 shares of the company's stock worth $196,345,000 after buying an additional 106,218 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Xcel Energy by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,954,907 shares of the company's stock valued at $182,643,000 after buying an additional 86,696 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. lifted its stake in Xcel Energy by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 2,068,140 shares of the company's stock valued at $128,039,000 after acquiring an additional 20,053 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Xcel Energy from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Xcel Energy from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $62.00.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of XEL traded up $1.38 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $55.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,242,156 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,576,403. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. The stock has a market cap of $30.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.61, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.37. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $46.79 and a 1-year high of $65.62. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.56.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 13.36%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, July 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.5475 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.96%. Xcel Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 65.77%.

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.