Brokerages Set Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) Target Price at $92.41

Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) have received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the seventeen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fourteen have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $92.4118.

XEL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Xcel Energy from $94.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. New Street Research set a $91.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $101.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th.

Institutional Trading of Xcel Energy

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Xcel Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $280,187,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in Xcel Energy in the second quarter worth $94,211,000. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 2,324,667 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,700,000 after buying an additional 356,208 shares during the period. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 3,579,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $264,413,000 after buying an additional 415,759 shares during the period. Finally, Electron Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Xcel Energy by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,936,695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,044,000 after acquiring an additional 255,884 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

XEL stock opened at $75.72 on Friday. Xcel Energy has a twelve month low of $71.29 and a twelve month high of $84.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The firm has a market cap of $47.30 billion, a PE ratio of 20.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50 day moving average of $78.74 and a 200 day moving average of $79.64.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.14. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.65% and a net margin of 15.28%.The business had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.59 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Xcel Energy will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

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

About Xcel Energy

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.