Evercore ISI Issues Positive Forecast for Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) Stock Price

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) had its price objective increased by research analysts at Evercore ISI from $74.00 to $77.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI’s price target points to a potential upside of 8.96% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on XEL. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Xcel Energy from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Xcel Energy from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.00.

Xcel Energy Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:XEL opened at $70.67 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $40.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.54, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.39. Xcel Energy has a 12 month low of $51.97 and a 12 month high of $73.38. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.95 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $3.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.93 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 14.40% and a return on equity of 10.65%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Xcel Energy will post 3.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Xcel Energy news, Director Devin W. Stockfish bought 2,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $68.93 per share, for a total transaction of $149,578.10. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,272.51. This trade represents a 259.26 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Xcel Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 43.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 20,762,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,401,901,000 after buying an additional 6,306,380 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Xcel Energy by 118.3% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,608,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $446,175,000 after acquiring an additional 3,581,436 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP grew its position in Xcel Energy by 1,625.7% during the 4th quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 3,667,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,609,000 after acquiring an additional 3,454,700 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 236.7% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,878,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $329,381,000 after purchasing an additional 3,429,353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Xcel Energy by 379.3% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,022,085 shares of the company’s stock valued at $271,578,000 after purchasing an additional 3,182,939 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by 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.