Insider Buying: Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) Director Purchases $149,578.10 in Stock

Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) Director Devin W. Stockfish acquired 2,170 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $68.93 per share, for a total transaction of $149,578.10. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,272.51. The trade was a 259.26 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of XEL stock opened at $69.75 on Friday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52 week low of $51.37 and a 52 week high of $73.38. The company has a market capitalization of $40.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.28, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.06). Xcel Energy had a net margin of 14.40% and a return on equity of 10.65%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. This is a boost from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is 66.28%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in XEL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 73,831,988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,985,136,000 after buying an additional 953,002 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,143,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,445,477,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323,448 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Xcel Energy by 43.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 20,762,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,401,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,306,380 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 19,291,149 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,302,538,000 after acquiring an additional 1,022,194 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 17,613,239 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,189,246,000 after purchasing an additional 2,422,483 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays decreased their price target on Xcel Energy from $71.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Xcel Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.10.

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.