Magellan Asset Management Ltd Invests $226.33 Million in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Magellan Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 2,818,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $226,328,000. Xcel Energy accounts for 5.1% of Magellan Asset Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Magellan Asset Management Ltd owned 0.45% of Xcel Energy at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of XEL. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the fourth quarter worth $240,000. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 30.7% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 13,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $978,000 after buying an additional 3,242 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP raised its position in Xcel Energy by 40.7% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 48,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,434,000 after buying an additional 14,029 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,193 shares of the company’s stock worth $694,000 after acquiring an additional 469 shares during the period. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 2,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

XEL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $101.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Xcel Energy from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $92.41.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of XEL opened at $76.30 on Monday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $71.29 and a 12 month high of $84.23. The stock has a market cap of $47.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $79.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.14. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 10.65%. The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.59 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a $0.5925 dividend. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.93%.

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.