Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 25,825 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund cut its stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 11.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 207,463 shares of the company’s stock after selling 25,825 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $14,008,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Amalgamated Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 112,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,581,000 after acquiring an additional 2,920 shares during the period. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 688,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,485,000 after acquiring an additional 8,234 shares during the period. FourThought Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $378,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,777,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $255,023,000 after buying an additional 11,529 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edge Capital Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $14,067,000. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on XEL shares. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Xcel Energy from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $71.00 to $76.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Xcel Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $69.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.91.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Xcel Energy stock opened at $70.45 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.48, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.43. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $46.79 and a 1 year high of $73.38. The business has a 50-day moving average of $67.20 and a 200-day moving average of $65.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.06). Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.65% and a net margin of 14.40%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 6th were given a dividend of $0.5475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, January 6th. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is currently 63.66%.

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.