Evercore ISI Boosts Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) Price Target to $59.00

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) had its price target increased by research analysts at Evercore ISI from $54.00 to $59.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI’s target price suggests a potential upside of 9.20% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays raised shares of Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $61.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Monday, March 11th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Xcel Energy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.58.

Xcel Energy Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of XEL stock traded down $0.98 on Friday, hitting $54.03. 2,693,108 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,367,452. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72. Xcel Energy has a one year low of $46.79 and a one year high of $70.72. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.36.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $3.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 12.47% and a return on equity of 10.78%. The company’s revenue was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Xcel Energy will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xcel Energy

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 26,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,610,000 after buying an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 20,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,274,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 29.1% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 20.1% during the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,123 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 70,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,359,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Company Profile

Xcel Energy Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, purchasing, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity. It operates through Regulated Electric Utility, Regulated Natural Gas Utility, and All Other segments. The company generates electricity through wind, nuclear, hydroelectric, biomass, and solar energy sources, as well as coal, natural gas, oil, wood, and refuse-derived fuels.