Deutsche Bank AG Takes $433.93 Million Position in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 5,403,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $433,927,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,610,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,732,334,000 after acquiring an additional 885,085 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,340,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,704,534,000 after purchasing an additional 444,092 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 29,441,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,338,858,000 after purchasing an additional 1,637,890 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 24,572,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,814,920,000 after purchasing an additional 3,546,423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Xcel Energy by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,496,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,214,035,000 after purchasing an additional 126,498 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on XEL shares. Mizuho set a $92.00 price objective on Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen lowered Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $99.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Xcel Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $92.41.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

XEL stock opened at $79.21 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $79.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.66. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $71.29 and a 52-week high of $84.23. The company has a market capitalization of $49.48 billion, a PE ratio of 21.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.39. 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 earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.14. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.65% and a net margin of 15.28%.The company had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.59 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 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.