Wedmont Private Capital Sells 1,288 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Wedmont Private Capital cut its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 24.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,950 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,288 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $215,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 15.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,062,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,665,677,000 after acquiring an additional 8,644,054 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 7.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,766,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $480,796,000 after buying an additional 261,426 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,171,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,345,000 after buying an additional 106,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 3.0% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ XEL opened at $53.37 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.65 billion, a PE ratio of 16.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.38. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.79 and a fifty-two week 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $54.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.59.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.08. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 11.03%. The business had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. Xcel Energy’s revenue was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, July 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.5475 per share. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is presently 65.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on XEL. TheStreet lowered shares of Xcel Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Wolfe Research upgraded Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.27.

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.