Stratos Investment Management LLC Has $542,000 Stock Position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Stratos Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,302 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,042 shares during the quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $542,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 6,684,499 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 1.8% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,186,101 shares of the company’s stock worth $223,264,000 after buying an additional 74,690 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 120.2% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,379,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,095,000 after buying an additional 1,299,025 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 130.4% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,854,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,046,000 after acquiring an additional 174,653 shares during the period. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on XEL. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Argus raised Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Xcel Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.57.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ:XEL opened at $64.07 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $62.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.53. The company has a market cap of $35.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.39. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $46.79 and a 52-week high of $65.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.29 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.46% and a return on equity of 10.94%. Xcel Energy’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.55 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, October 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.548 per share. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. 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 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.