Central Bank & Trust Co. Has $1.54 Million Stock Holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Central Bank & Trust Co. lowered its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 10.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 22,833 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,785 shares during the period. Central Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $1,542,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 17.5% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Corundum Group Inc. increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 143.4% in the 4th quarter. Corundum Group Inc. now owns 14,187 shares of the company’s stock valued at $958,000 after buying an additional 8,358 shares during the last quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 33,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,234,000 after buying an additional 1,374 shares during the last quarter. LVW Advisors LLC lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 167.1% during the 4th quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 12,502 shares of the company’s stock worth $844,000 after buying an additional 7,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,258 shares of the company’s stock worth $423,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on XEL shares. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $71.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Four investment 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 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.67.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Xcel Energy stock opened at $66.72 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $68.41 and its 200 day moving average is $63.66. Xcel Energy Inc. has a one year low of $46.79 and a one year high of $73.38. The firm has a market cap of $38.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by ($0.01). Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 13.67%. The firm had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.54 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.5475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 6th. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is currently 64.99%.

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.