Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) Price Target Raised to $59.00

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) had its price objective boosted by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $58.00 to $59.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target indicates a potential downside of 1.55% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Xcel Energy from $66.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 15th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 30th. StockNews.com raised Xcel Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Xcel Energy from $76.00 to $67.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 6th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Xcel Energy from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 9th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.08.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ XEL traded down $0.13 on Tuesday, reaching $59.93. The stock had a trading volume of 971,007 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,524,773. The stock has a market cap of $33.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.43. Xcel Energy has a 12-month low of $53.73 and a 12-month high of $72.99. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $58.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 27th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.26 by ($0.03). Xcel Energy had a net margin of 11.75% and a return on equity of 10.44%. The firm had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.98 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.18 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Xcel Energy will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 2.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,043,375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,611,630,000 after purchasing an additional 1,263,127 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.7% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 50,000,954 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,108,559,000 after acquiring an additional 362,792 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,836,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,870,325,000 after acquiring an additional 172,477 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 16.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 18,521,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,059,821,000 after acquiring an additional 2,559,321 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 3.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,671,363 shares of the company’s stock worth $786,477,000 after acquiring an additional 419,776 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.83% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Company Profile

Xcel Energy Inc, through its subsidiaries, generates, purchases, transmits, distributes, and sells electricity. It operates through Regulated Electric Utility, Regulated Natural Gas Utility, and All Other segments. The company generates electricity through coal, nuclear, natural gas, hydroelectric, solar, biomass, oil, wood/refuse, and wind energy sources.