Oak Thistle LLC Purchases Shares of 21,217 Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 21,217 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,433,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in Xcel Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in Xcel Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, First Financial Corp IN bought a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $69.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $71.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine 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 target price of $69.67.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ XEL opened at $64.08 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $68.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.38. Xcel Energy Inc. has a one year low of $46.79 and a one year high of $73.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $36.80 billion, a PE ratio of 19.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.42.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released 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). Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.67% and a return on equity of 10.76%. The company had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.23 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Monday, January 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.5475 per share. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 6th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.99%.

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.