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

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

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on XEL. Wolfe Research raised shares of Xcel Energy from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $58.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Barclays raised shares of Xcel Energy from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $61.00 to $54.00 in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, TheStreet lowered shares of Xcel Energy from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $62.58.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of XEL opened at $53.96 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.07. 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 capitalization of $29.97 billion, a PE ratio of 16.81, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.36. Xcel Energy has a 1 year low of $46.79 and a 1 year high of $70.72.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 11.12% and a net margin of 13.36%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Xcel Energy will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.548 dividend. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.06%. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.22%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xcel Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 298,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,448,000 after purchasing an additional 7,679 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 47.7% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 115,016 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,121,000 after buying an additional 37,131 shares during the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 930.5% during the 3rd quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 45,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,627,000 after buying an additional 41,462 shares during the last quarter. First Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 66.8% during the 4th quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 70,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,359,000 after buying an additional 28,187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 15.6% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.