Morgan Stanley Cuts Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) Price Target to $72.00

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) had its price target trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $74.00 to $72.00 in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

XEL has been the subject of several other reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $71.00 to $76.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. Argus upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $57.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.31.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of Xcel Energy stock opened at $71.35 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company has a fifty day moving average of $65.42 and a 200-day moving average of $59.82. Xcel Energy has a 52-week low of $46.79 and a 52-week high of $71.79.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.26 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.93 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.67% and a return on equity of 10.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.23 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Xcel Energy will post 3.55 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Xcel Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 5,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $391,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 4,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $284,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 19.6% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 336,265 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,958,000 after acquiring an additional 55,018 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $940,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,562,103 shares of the company’s stock valued at $952,091,000 after acquiring an additional 262,191 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.