Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) Raised to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

XEL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group set a $101.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Mizuho set a $92.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $83.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $94.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $92.56.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Xcel Energy stock opened at $69.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market cap of $43.60 billion, a PE ratio of 19.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $76.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.67. Xcel Energy has a one year low of $68.72 and a one year high of $84.23.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.14. The business 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%.The company’s revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.59 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Xcel Energy

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the second quarter worth about $4,890,136,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,896,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,145,176,000 after purchasing an additional 1,770,356 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Xcel Energy by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 29,933,748 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,403,680,000 after purchasing an additional 491,937 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Xcel Energy by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 24,572,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,814,920,000 after purchasing an additional 3,546,423 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,496,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,214,035,000 after purchasing an additional 126,498 shares in the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Xcel Energy

Xcel Energy Inc is a Minneapolis-based electric and natural gas utility holding company that serves customers across parts of Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin. Through its operating companies, Xcel provides electricity generation, transmission and distribution, as well as natural gas distribution and related energy services.

The company operates a diversified generating fleet that includes wind, solar, hydroelectric, nuclear, natural gas and other resources.