Syon Capital LLC Makes New $317,000 Investment in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Syon Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 5,126 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $317,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 15.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,062,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,665,677,000 after purchasing an additional 8,644,054 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 16.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 18,521,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,059,821,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559,321 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,504,622 shares of the company’s stock valued at $429,414,000 after purchasing an additional 583,318 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,739,186 shares of the company’s stock valued at $328,396,000 after purchasing an additional 90,819 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,303,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $303,440,000 after purchasing an additional 550,508 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Trading Down 1.9 %

XEL stock opened at $53.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $53.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.07. Xcel Energy Inc. has a one year low of $46.79 and a one year high of $70.72. The stock has a market cap of $29.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.36.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.08. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 11.12% and a net margin of 13.36%. The company had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.548 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.06%. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

XEL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $61.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Monday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. TheStreet cut shares of Xcel Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Xcel Energy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.58.

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.