GAMMA Investing LLC Purchases 2,074 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 20.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,257 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,074 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $800,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Czech National Bank raised its position in Xcel Energy by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 113,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,416,000 after buying an additional 7,686 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 185.2% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 34,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,283,000 after purchasing an additional 22,701 shares during the last quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the second quarter valued at about $1,146,000. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Xcel Energy during the second quarter worth about $585,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Xcel Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $3,472,000. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Argus raised 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 report on Monday, August 26th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.36.

Xcel Energy Stock Down 0.1 %

XEL stock opened at $62.93 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.92. Xcel Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $46.79 and a twelve month high of $65.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.97 billion, a PE ratio of 18.90, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.29 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 13.46%. The business’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, October 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.548 dividend. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. This is a boost from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 65.77%.

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.