Brokerages Set Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) Target Price at $62.00

Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $62.00.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on XEL shares. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. StockNews.com raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xcel Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 8,644,054 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 7.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,472,435 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,766,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $480,796,000 after acquiring an additional 261,426 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 770.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,552,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $405,955,000 after acquiring an additional 6,684,499 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,186,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $223,264,000 after acquiring an additional 74,690 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of XEL opened at $53.41 on Wednesday. Xcel Energy has a 1 year low of $46.79 and a 1 year high of $65.62. The company has a market cap of $29.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $54.58 and a 200-day moving average of $56.40.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 11.03%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, July 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.5475 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.10%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is presently 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.