Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) have received an average rating of “Buy” from the seventeen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation, twelve have assigned a buy recommendation and three have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $87.5333.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on XEL. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 15th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Xcel Energy from $86.00 to $81.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Mizuho set a $86.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Xcel Energy from $80.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd.

Institutional Trading of Xcel Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 28,851,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,326,872,000 after buying an additional 2,589,406 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 54.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,098,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $491,835,000 after acquiring an additional 2,145,063 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 2.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 76,725,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,187,929,000 after acquiring an additional 2,001,018 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,896,553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,914,984,000 after purchasing an additional 1,752,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 18,719,520 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,274,799,000 after purchasing an additional 1,746,066 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:XEL opened at $75.73 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $76.06 and its 200 day moving average is $75.90. The stock has a market cap of $44.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.46. Xcel Energy has a 52-week low of $65.21 and a 52-week high of $83.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by ($0.08). Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.46% and a return on equity of 10.45%. The firm had revenue of $3.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.89 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Xcel Energy will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 20th. Investors of record on Monday, December 29th were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 29th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.51%.

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.