Bank of America Raises Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) Price Target to $66.00

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) had its price objective boosted by equities researchers at Bank of America from $63.00 to $66.00 in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Bank of America‘s price target points to a potential upside of 21.52% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on XEL. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, March 11th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $61.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.58.

Xcel Energy Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:XEL traded up $0.35 on Monday, hitting $54.31. The stock had a trading volume of 479,416 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,357,108. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. The stock has a market cap of $30.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.36, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $53.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.07. Xcel Energy has a 1-year low of $46.79 and a 1-year high of $70.60.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.08. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 11.03%. The firm had revenue of $3.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Xcel Energy will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Xcel Energy

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Avestar Capital LLC boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 6.9% during the third quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 4,699 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 29.3% during the third quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 2,051 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. Toews Corp ADV acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the third quarter worth approximately $772,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.4% during the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 114,309 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,541,000 after buying an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the third quarter worth approximately $641,000. 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.