Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) Stock Bumped Up to Hold by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. 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 report on Thursday, July 9th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $94.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 13th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $83.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $92.56.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

XEL stock opened at $69.80 on Friday. Xcel Energy has a one year low of $68.72 and a one year high of $84.23. The firm has a market cap of $43.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.12, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.70. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.69.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 10.65%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.59 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Xcel Energy will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a $0.5925 dividend. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.93%.

Institutional Trading of Xcel Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the second quarter valued at about $4,890,136,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 4.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,896,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,145,176,000 after purchasing an additional 1,770,356 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.7% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 29,933,748 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,403,680,000 after purchasing an additional 491,937 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 24,572,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,814,920,000 after buying an additional 3,546,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,496,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,214,035,000 after buying an additional 126,498 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

About Xcel Energy

Xcel Energy Inc is a Minneapolis-based electric and natural gas utility holding company that serves customers across parts of Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin. Through its operating companies, Xcel provides electricity generation, transmission and distribution, as well as natural gas distribution and related energy services.

The company operates a diversified generating fleet that includes wind, solar, hydroelectric, nuclear, natural gas and other resources.