Empirical Finance LLC Acquires 407 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,802 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $1,228,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 770.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,552,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $405,955,000 after purchasing an additional 6,684,499 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Xcel Energy by 120.2% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,379,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,095,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,025 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 130.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,084,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,325,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179,823 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 1,765.0% during the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 932,505 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,122,000 after buying an additional 882,505 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 725.1% during the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 907,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,444,000 after purchasing an additional 797,096 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on XEL shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Argus upgraded Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 26th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Xcel Energy from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $71.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target 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. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.38.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ:XEL opened at $69.46 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52 week low of $46.79 and a 52 week high of $69.90. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $64.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.89 billion, a PE ratio of 20.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.38.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.26 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.93 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.67% and a return on equity of 10.76%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Company 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.