State Street Corp Buys 2,323,448 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

State Street Corp lifted its stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report) by 6.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,143,025 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,323,448 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned 6.47% of Xcel Energy worth $2,445,477,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,190,756 shares of the company's stock valued at $991,956,000 after purchasing an additional 892,740 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 2.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,417,615 shares of the company's stock valued at $223,170,000 after buying an additional 67,820 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in Xcel Energy by 120.2% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,379,615 shares of the company's stock worth $127,095,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,025 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 130.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,084,345 shares of the company's stock worth $111,325,000 after acquiring an additional 1,179,823 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on XEL. KeyCorp raised their target price on Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Argus upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $68.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $72.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $67.00.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of Xcel Energy stock traded down $1.12 during trading on Friday, reaching $69.74. 3,431,754 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,123,851. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $46.79 and a 52-week high of $73.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.76. The company has a market capitalization of $40.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.41.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL - Get Free Report) last released 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 firm had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.93 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.67% and a return on equity of 10.76%. The business's quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.23 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.54 EPS for the current year.

About Xcel Energy

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.