RIA Advisory Group LLC Buys Shares of 4,864 Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $301,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 19,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,418,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 26,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,610,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 3,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Nwam LLC raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 3,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $217,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 11,461 shares of the company’s stock valued at $713,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on XEL shares. Barclays upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $61.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Xcel Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Wolfe Research upgraded Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Xcel Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

XEL stock traded up $0.96 during trading on Friday, reaching $54.72. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,476,673 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,430,368. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $46.79 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The company has a market capitalization of $30.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.36. The company’s fifty day moving average is $54.23 and its 200-day moving average is $58.14.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by ($0.02). Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.78% and a net margin of 12.47%. The business had revenue of $3.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.69 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.548 per share. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 68.22%.

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.