Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) Price Target Raised to $94.00

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) had its price objective upped by Truist Financial from $92.00 to $94.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Monday, June 8th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.76.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of Xcel Energy stock opened at $78.77 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $49.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $79.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.05. Xcel Energy has a one year low of $69.16 and a one year high of $84.23.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.91. The company had revenue of $4.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.21 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 14.14%.Xcel Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.84 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Xcel Energy will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.5925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.30%.

Institutional Trading of Xcel Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $240,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 30.7% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 13,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $978,000 after purchasing an additional 3,242 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 40.7% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 48,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,434,000 after purchasing an additional 14,029 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 4.8% during the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $694,000 after buying an additional 469 shares during the period. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 16.0% during the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 2,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,000 after buying an additional 362 shares during the period. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.