Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL Shares Sold by Truist Financial Corp

Truist Financial Corp trimmed its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 7.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 203,305 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,561 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $15,016,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in XEL. ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 168.4% during the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Xcel Energy in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Abound Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 394.5% in the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 361 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. First Command Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in Xcel Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Beacon Financial Strategies CORP bought a new position in Xcel Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. BTIG Research set a $94.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Mizuho set a $86.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Truist Financial began coverage on Xcel Energy in a research report on Monday, April 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $91.13.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of Xcel Energy stock opened at $80.43 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $80.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.70. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $84.23. The stock has a market cap of $50.21 billion, a PE ratio of 23.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.41.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.91. The company had revenue of $4.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.21 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 14.14% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.84 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.5925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is 68.30%.

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.