Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL is Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s 7th Largest Position

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 6.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,357,297 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 150,768 shares during the period. Xcel Energy makes up 2.2% of Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $190,116,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 23.6% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,996,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $241,663,000 after purchasing an additional 572,050 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 90.8% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,353,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $109,198,000 after buying an additional 644,269 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 22.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,692,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $539,740,000 after buying an additional 1,243,890 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 1.7% during the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 7,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $593,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Xcel Energy by 38.5% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 277,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,410,000 after buying an additional 77,202 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on XEL. BTIG Research set a $94.00 price objective on Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Mizuho set a $86.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $81.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.60.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ:XEL opened at $81.00 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.68, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.45. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.21 and a 1 year high of $84.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

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

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.