Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $63.08.

Several analysts recently issued reports on XEL shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on Xcel Energy from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:XEL opened at $53.76 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Xcel Energy has a 1 year low of $46.79 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.86 billion, a PE ratio of 16.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.36. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $54.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.14.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.85 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.01 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.78% and a net margin of 12.47%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.69 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Xcel Energy will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.548 per share. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.08%. This is a boost from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.22%.

Institutional Trading of Xcel Energy

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.8% in the first quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 19,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,418,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC grew its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 26,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,610,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 5.6% during the second quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 3,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the period. Nwam LLC raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 5.8% in the first quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 3,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $217,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.6% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 11,461 shares of the company’s stock valued at $713,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

About Xcel Energy

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.