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

StockNews.com cut shares of Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Friday morning.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on XEL. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Barclays upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and dropped their target price for the company from $61.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $62.58.

Xcel Energy Trading Up 1.0 %

XEL opened at $54.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Xcel Energy has a fifty-two week low of $46.79 and a fifty-two week high of $70.60. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $53.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.36, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.36.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $3.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 13.36%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Xcel Energy will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.548 dividend. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.02%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is currently 65.77%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xcel Energy

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of XEL. DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 82.4% during the third quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 17,288 shares of the company’s stock worth $989,000 after purchasing an additional 7,811 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC boosted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 5,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $305,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the period. CX Institutional boosted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 5,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $336,000 after buying an additional 613 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 5,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $287,000 after buying an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its holdings in Xcel Energy by 48.0% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 96,406 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,516,000 after acquiring an additional 31,255 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.