Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) has been assigned a consensus 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, twelve have issued a buy recommendation and four have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $91.1250.

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Xcel Energy in a report on Monday, April 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Xcel Energy from $82.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Morgan Stanley set a $92.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, BTIG Research set a $94.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, January 30th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of XEL. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $240,000. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 30.7% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 13,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $978,000 after acquiring an additional 3,242 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 40.7% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 48,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,434,000 after acquiring an additional 14,029 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 4.8% in the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $694,000 after acquiring an additional 469 shares during the period. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 16.0% in the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 2,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:XEL opened at $79.39 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.88, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.41. Xcel Energy has a 12-month low of $65.21 and a 12-month high of $84.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91. The business had revenue of $4.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.21 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 14.14%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a $0.5925 dividend. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.30%.

Xcel Energy Company Profile

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.