HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 41.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,169,573 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 341,699 shares during the period. Xcel Energy comprises about 5.1% of HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC owned about 0.20% of Xcel Energy worth $94,326,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 2.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 76,725,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,187,929,000 after buying an additional 2,001,018 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 86.6% during the third quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 41,406 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,339,000 after acquiring an additional 19,214 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the third quarter worth $6,994,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 2,324.9% in the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,716,351 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,884,000 after acquiring an additional 1,645,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VCI Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Xcel Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,176,000. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

XEL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Argus set a $86.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley set a $91.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, February 20th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Xcel Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Mizuho set a $86.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.44.

Xcel Energy Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:XEL opened at $80.82 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $78.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $77.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.60. Xcel Energy Inc. has a one year low of $65.21 and a one year high of $84.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.42 billion, a PE ratio of 23.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.45.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.96. The company had revenue of $3.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.77 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.46% and a net margin of 13.76%.Xcel Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.81 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.5925 dividend. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 69.30%.

About Xcel Energy

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ: XEL) is a Minneapolis-based, publicly traded utility holding company that develops, owns and operates regulated electricity and natural gas delivery systems. The company’s core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, the delivery of natural gas to customers, and related customer service operations. Xcel provides a mix of utility services to residential, commercial and industrial customers and participates in wholesale energy markets where appropriate.

Its generation portfolio combines nuclear, natural gas, coal and a growing share of renewable resources such as wind and solar.