Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) Upgraded at Truist Financial

Truist Financial upgraded shares of Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

XEL has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group increased their price target on Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays increased their price target on Xcel Energy from $82.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings raised Xcel Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Xcel Energy presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $90.12.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of XEL stock opened at $78.11 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The business has a fifty day moving average of $80.78 and a 200 day moving average of $78.78. Xcel Energy has a 1 year low of $65.21 and a 1 year high of $84.23.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96. The company had revenue of $3.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.77 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.46% and a net margin of 13.76%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Xcel Energy will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.5925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is 69.30%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Xcel Energy

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 76,725,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,187,929,000 after acquiring an additional 2,001,018 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $6,994,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 86.6% during the 3rd quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 41,406 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,339,000 after acquiring an additional 19,214 shares during the period. VCI Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,176,000. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 94.0% during the 3rd quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 31,131 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,511,000 after acquiring an additional 15,083 shares during the period. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Xcel Energy Company Profile

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ: XEL) is a Minneapolis-based, publicly traded utility holding company that develops, owns and operates regulated electricity and natural gas delivery systems. The company’s core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, the delivery of natural gas to customers, and related customer service operations. Xcel provides a mix of utility services to residential, commercial and industrial customers and participates in wholesale energy markets where appropriate.

Its generation portfolio combines nuclear, natural gas, coal and a growing share of renewable resources such as wind and solar.