GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC Trims Holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC cut its stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,695 shares of the company’s stock after selling 267 shares during the period. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $197,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,994,298 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,237,847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472,435 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,766,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $480,796,000 after purchasing an additional 261,426 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 770.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,552,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $405,955,000 after buying an additional 6,684,499 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 1.8% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,186,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $223,264,000 after buying an additional 74,690 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,171,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $196,345,000 after buying an additional 106,218 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on XEL. Bank of America boosted their price target on Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.91.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ XEL traded down $0.28 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $58.68. 305,363 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,395,986. Xcel Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $46.79 and a twelve month high of $64.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market cap of $32.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.71, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.37. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $55.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.07.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.29 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 11.00% and a net margin of 13.46%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.55 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, October 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.548 dividend. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio 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.