Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on XEL. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Xcel Energy from $91.00 to $86.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $95.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Xcel Energy from $88.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Finally, BTIG Research set a $92.00 price objective on Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.71.

Xcel Energy Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ XEL opened at $79.33 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. Xcel Energy has a 12-month low of $68.72 and a 12-month high of $84.23. The company has a market cap of $49.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.36. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $74.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.21.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The company reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.13. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.65% and a net margin of 15.28%. The firm had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.24 EPS. Xcel Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy will post 4.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Xcel Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the second quarter valued at $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 acquiring an additional 1,770,356 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.7% during 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 in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Xcel Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $891,688,000. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC bought a new stake in Xcel Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $708,086,000. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Xcel Energy

Xcel Energy Inc is a public utility holding company that provides electricity and natural gas services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers. Its operations include the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity, as well as the distribution and sale of natural gas.

The company serves customers across Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin through operating companies including Northern States Power, Public Service Company of Colorado, Southwestern Public Service Company, and NSP-Wisconsin.