Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC Buys 711 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 17.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,676 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 711 shares during the period. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $316,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 6.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,143,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,445,477,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323,448 shares during the last quarter. Brookfield Corp ON increased its position in Xcel Energy by 520.1% during the 3rd quarter. Brookfield Corp ON now owns 2,509,031 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,840,000 after purchasing an additional 2,104,405 shares during the period. Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new position in Xcel Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $64,301,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 6.2% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,190,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $991,956,000 after buying an additional 892,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 1,265.6% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 839,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,797,000 after purchasing an additional 777,696 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on XEL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Xcel Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $71.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $70.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.50.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ XEL opened at $66.07 on Thursday. 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 has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.34. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.79 and a fifty-two week high of $73.38. The company has a market capitalization of $37.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.42.

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

Xcel Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Monday, January 6th were given a dividend of $0.5475 per share. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, January 6th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.99%.

Xcel Energy Company 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.