First Bank & Trust Raises Stock Holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

First Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 60,901 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,234 shares during the quarter. Xcel Energy accounts for about 0.8% of First Bank & Trust’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $3,977,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in XEL. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC purchased a new stake in Xcel Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $5,111,000. Stewart & Patten Co. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Stewart & Patten Co. LLC now owns 314,512 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,905,000 after buying an additional 4,589 shares during the period. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the first quarter worth about $827,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 2.4% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,625,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,372,000 after buying an additional 38,653 shares during the period. Finally, Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in Xcel Energy in the first quarter worth approximately $3,584,000. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on XEL shares. Argus raised Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Xcel Energy from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $57.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.54.

Xcel Energy Stock Down 1.0 %

XEL traded down $0.65 on Friday, reaching $64.46. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,028,049 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,138,417. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $46.79 and a 1 year high of $65.76. The business’s 50 day moving average is $63.12 and its 200 day moving average is $57.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market cap of $35.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.39.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.03). Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.46% and a return on equity of 10.94%. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, October 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.548 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is 65.77%.

Xcel Energy Profile

Xcel Energy Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, purchasing, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity. It operates through Regulated Electric Utility, Regulated Natural Gas Utility, and All Other segments. The company generates electricity through wind, nuclear, hydroelectric, biomass, and solar energy sources, as well as coal, natural gas, oil, wood, and refuse-derived fuels.