Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Has $832,000 Position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 48.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,579 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,081 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $832,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of XEL. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Xcel Energy by 770.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,552,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $405,955,000 after acquiring an additional 6,684,499 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Xcel Energy in the first quarter valued at about $80,283,000. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 120.2% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,379,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,095,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,025 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Xcel Energy by 130.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,084,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,325,000 after buying an additional 1,179,823 shares during the period. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP boosted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 1,765.0% during the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 932,505 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,122,000 after buying an additional 882,505 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on XEL shares. Argus upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Xcel Energy from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Xcel Energy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.79.

Xcel Energy Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of XEL stock opened at $63.96 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $60.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.06. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $46.79 and a 1 year high of $64.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.21, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.38.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.03). The company 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 quarter in the previous 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 company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, October 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.548 per share. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Xcel Energy’s 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.