Xcel Energy Inc. (XEL:NSD) has received an average rating of “Buy” from the eleven brokerages covering the company, with four equities research analysts rating the stock as a hold and six rating it as a buy. The average one-year price target among analysts who updated their coverage on Xcel Energy stock in the last year is $68.70.
Xcel Energy Stock-Analyst Ratings:
While several brokerages have commented on Xcel Energy stock in recent months, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on the stock from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company, while Credit Suisse Group downgraded Xcel Energy stock from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $68.00 price target for the company.
Hedge Funds & Institutional Holdings:
Institutional Trading of Xcel Energy has seen several large investors recently modify their holdings of the business. Prospera Financial Services Inc boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 20.0% during the 2nd quarter, while Atria Investments LLC increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 9.4% in the second quarter. Additionally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter.
Xcel Energy Stock Price Analysis:
Shares of XEL stock opened at $64.40 on Thursday and were up 1.2%. Xcel Energy has a 1-year low of $56.89 and a 1-year high of $77.66, with a market capitalization of $35.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.41.
Quarterly Earnings Review:
Xcel Energy last reported its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 26th, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 earnings per share. The company had revenue of $4.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion, with a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 10.72%.
Xcel Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year, and analysts expect the company to post 3.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.
XEL Stock Dividend:
In addition, Xcel Energy has recently increased its quarterly dividend, with stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th set to be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share on Thursday, April 20th.
This represents a positive change from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49 and a dividend yield of 3.23%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.51%.
Company Profile:
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 sells electricity to approximately 3.7 million customers; and natural gas to approximately 2.1 million customers. Xcel Energy Inc. was incorporated in 1909 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
