Morgan Stanley Cuts Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) Price Target to $89.00

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) had its price target trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $92.00 to $89.00 in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

XEL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $91.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Mizuho set a $92.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $96.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $92.41.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of XEL opened at $76.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Xcel Energy has a 1-year low of $71.29 and a 1-year high of $84.23. The stock has a market cap of $47.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $79.73.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.65% and a net margin of 15.28%.Xcel Energy’s revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.59 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Xcel Energy will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a $0.5925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is 64.93%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Xcel Energy during the second quarter worth approximately $4,890,136,000. GQG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $891,688,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $708,086,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $503,543,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $433,927,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Company Profile

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ: XEL) is a Minneapolis-based, publicly traded utility holding company that develops, owns and operates regulated electricity and natural gas delivery systems. The company’s core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, the delivery of natural gas to customers, and related customer service operations. Xcel provides a mix of utility services to residential, commercial and industrial customers and participates in wholesale energy markets where appropriate.

Its generation portfolio combines nuclear, natural gas, coal and a growing share of renewable resources such as wind and solar.