JPMorgan Chase & Co. Upgrades Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) to “Overweight”

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) was upgraded by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage presently has a $80.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $69.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target points to a potential upside of 17.44% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on XEL. Argus upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $71.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.62.

Xcel Energy Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ XEL opened at $68.12 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $39.12 billion, a PE ratio of 20.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a fifty day moving average of $67.27 and a 200 day moving average of $61.34. Xcel Energy has a 1 year low of $46.79 and a 1 year high of $73.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.93 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.67% and a return on equity of 10.76%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.23 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Xcel Energy will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,143,025 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,445,477,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323,448 shares in the last quarter. Brookfield Corp ON grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 520.1% during the 3rd quarter. Brookfield Corp ON now owns 2,509,031 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,840,000 after acquiring an additional 2,104,405 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 120.2% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,379,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,095,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,025 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 130.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,084,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,325,000 after acquiring an additional 1,179,823 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merewether Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in Xcel Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $64,301,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

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.