First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Raises Holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Sep 25th, 2023

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL – Free Report) by 19.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,226 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,351 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $511,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $302,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,318,573 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,163,000 after buying an additional 104,140 shares during the last quarter. Prudential PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the 1st quarter worth $1,385,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in Xcel Energy by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 33,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,424,000 after purchasing an additional 3,836 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.83% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of XEL stock opened at $59.73 on Monday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.11 and a 52 week high of $72.99. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $59.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.94 billion, a PE ratio of 18.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.38 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.39% and a net margin of 11.38%. The business’s revenue was down 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is 66.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho lowered their target price on Xcel Energy from $72.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 30th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Xcel Energy in a research note on Wednesday, June 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $75.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Xcel Energy from $66.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Xcel Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $79.00 to $68.00 in a report on Friday, June 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Xcel Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.43.

Read Our Latest Analysis on XEL

About Xcel Energy

(Free Report)

Xcel Energy Inc, through its subsidiaries, generates, purchases, transmits, distributes, and sells electricity. It operates through Regulated Electric Utility, Regulated Natural Gas Utility, and All Other segments. The company generates electricity through coal, nuclear, natural gas, hydroelectric, solar, biomass, oil, wood/refuse, and wind energy sources.