Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) Cut to Sell at StockNews.com

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays raised shares of Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $61.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of XEL opened at $54.72 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $54.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.14. The company has a market capitalization of $30.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Xcel Energy has a 1-year low of $46.79 and a 1-year high of $71.32.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.01 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 12.47% and a return on equity of 10.78%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.69 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Xcel Energy will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Xcel Energy

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in XEL. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 298,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,448,000 after buying an additional 7,679 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 47.7% in 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 period. Seven Eight Capital LP grew its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 930.5% in 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 period. First Bank & Trust grew its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 66.8% in 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 period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 15.6% in 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 period. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

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.