Evercore ISI Raises Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) Price Target to $59.00

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) had its price objective raised by Evercore ISI from $54.00 to $59.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Barclays upgraded Xcel Energy from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $61.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Xcel Energy from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $58.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $62.58.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ:XEL opened at $53.96 on Friday. Xcel Energy has a one year low of $46.79 and a one year high of $70.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market cap of $29.97 billion, a PE ratio of 16.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $53.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.07.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.08. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 11.12% and a net margin of 13.36%. The firm had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. The business’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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.548 per share. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.77%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 15.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,062,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,665,677,000 after buying an additional 8,644,054 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,994,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,237,847,000 after buying an additional 1,472,435 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,766,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $480,796,000 after acquiring an additional 261,426 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.6% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,739,186 shares of the company’s stock valued at $328,396,000 after acquiring an additional 90,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 11.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,303,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $303,440,000 after acquiring an additional 550,508 shares in the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.