Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 2,001,018 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 76,725,720 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,001,018 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 12.97% of Xcel Energy worth $6,187,929,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $116,884,000 after acquiring an additional 1,645,571 shares during the last quarter. VCI Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Xcel Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,176,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 94.0% during the 3rd quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 31,131 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,511,000 after purchasing an additional 15,083 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 86.6% in the third quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 41,406 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,339,000 after purchasing an additional 19,214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy in the second quarter worth approximately $9,196,000. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on XEL shares. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 15th. UBS Group raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $81.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Mizuho set a $86.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Argus upgraded Xcel Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $88.13.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Xcel Energy stock opened at $81.59 on Tuesday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $83.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market cap of $48.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $75.34 and a 200-day moving average of $76.53.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96. The firm had revenue of $3.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.77 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.76% and a return on equity of 10.83%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. Xcel Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.040-4.160 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 20th. Investors of record on Monday, December 29th were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 29th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.67%.

Xcel Energy 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.