JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Positive Forecast for Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) Stock Price

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) had its target price increased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $91.00 to $102.00 in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

XEL has been the subject of several other reports. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $98.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $96.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Monday, May 4th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $101.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, New Street Research set a $91.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $92.76.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 0.9%

XEL stock opened at $79.98 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $79.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $79.05. Xcel Energy has a 52 week low of $68.97 and a 52 week high of $84.23. The company has a market cap of $49.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.39.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 14.14% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The company had revenue of $4.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.21 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Xcel Energy will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.5925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.30%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xcel Energy

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of XEL. USA Financial Formulas lifted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 491.3% during the fourth quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 21,435 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,583,000 after buying an additional 17,810 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 226.4% during the fourth quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA now owns 42,354 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,128,000 after acquiring an additional 29,376 shares during the last quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 2,324,667 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,700,000 after acquiring an additional 356,208 shares during the period. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 26.6% in the 4th quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 74,149 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,477,000 after acquiring an additional 15,590 shares during the period. Finally, Tounjian Advisory Partners LLC acquired a new position in Xcel Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $1,165,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

About Xcel Energy

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.