Quadrature Capital Ltd Sells 119,734 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Quadrature Capital Ltd lessened its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 88.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,223 shares of the company’s stock after selling 119,734 shares during the quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $942,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of XEL. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Xcel Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Xcel Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Xcel Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Heritage Wealth Advisors bought a new stake in Xcel Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, Capital Analysts LLC lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 293.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 433 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on XEL shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. StockNews.com raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.27.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Xcel Energy stock opened at $53.53 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $54.55 and a 200-day moving average of $56.72. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $46.79 and a 1 year high of $65.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The company has a market capitalization of $29.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.38.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 11.03%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, July 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.5475 per share. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.