Bailard Inc. Has $867,000 Position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Bailard Inc. boosted its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,837 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 370 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $867,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 20.9% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,391 shares of the company’s stock worth $352,000 after purchasing an additional 933 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 32.9% during the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 8,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $526,000 after buying an additional 2,025 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 127,993 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,358,000 after buying an additional 4,535 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 159,783 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,277,000 after buying an additional 8,934 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 121,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,937,000 after acquiring an additional 9,400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on XEL. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Xcel Energy from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $71.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.91.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ XEL opened at $71.90 on Tuesday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $46.79 and a 52-week high of $73.38. The stock has a market cap of $41.29 billion, a PE ratio of 20.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $67.53 and a 200-day moving average of $66.26. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.06). Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.65% and a net margin of 14.40%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.28%.

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.