Metis Global Partners LLC Sells 701 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Metis Global Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 32,143 shares of the company’s stock after selling 701 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $1,990,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of XEL. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,051,708 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,905,000 after buying an additional 52,322 shares during the period. AJOVista LLC acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $139,000. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the 4th quarter worth $211,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 41.5% in the 4th quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 16,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,010,000 after purchasing an additional 4,789 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its position in Xcel Energy by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 111,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,874,000 after purchasing an additional 13,261 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Xcel Energy from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wolfe Research raised Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 11th. KeyCorp cut their target price on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Xcel Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Six 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.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

XEL opened at $55.02 on Wednesday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.79 and a fifty-two week high of $69.85. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $53.10 and a 200 day moving average of $57.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market cap of $30.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.52, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.36.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.08. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 11.03%. The firm had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.548 dividend. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.77%.

About Xcel Energy

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.