SG Americas Securities LLC Acquires 697,074 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 131.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,229,339 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 697,074 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $90,799,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in XEL. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 168.4% during the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. First Command Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in Xcel Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Collier Financial bought a new position in Xcel Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

XEL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $91.00 price objective on Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, February 20th. Mizuho set a $86.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, January 9th. KeyCorp cut their target price on Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Argus set a $86.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $88.44.

Xcel Energy Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of XEL stock opened at $76.95 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $48.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.50, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.45. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.21 and a 52-week high of $84.23. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.06.

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

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. 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.