Man Group plc Purchases Shares of 38,689 Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Man Group plc purchased a new stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 38,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,107,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $240,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position 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 worth $978,000 after buying an additional 3,242 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 40.7% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 48,515 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,434,000 after buying an additional 14,029 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 4.8% during the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,193 shares of the company’s stock worth $694,000 after buying an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 16.0% during the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 2,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,000 after buying an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Xcel Energy Trading Down 1.0%

XEL opened at $75.69 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $79.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.76. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $71.29 and a 1-year high of $84.23. The company has a market cap of $47.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49.

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

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

XEL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $91.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Xcel Energy from $92.00 to $89.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 21st. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $99.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, New Street Research set a $91.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.41.

Xcel Energy Company Profile

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.