Morgan Stanley Boosts Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) Price Target to $65.00

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) had its price objective lifted by Morgan Stanley from $59.00 to $65.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Xcel Energy from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Xcel Energy from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $63.33.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:XEL opened at $55.45 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $54.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.31. Xcel Energy has a 1-year low of $46.79 and a 1-year high of $65.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market cap of $30.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.36.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $3.65 billion during 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 revenue was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Xcel Energy will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, July 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.5475 per share. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.95%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.77%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xcel Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 177.4% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 30,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,640,000 after purchasing an additional 19,517 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 165.0% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 107,344 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,770,000 after purchasing an additional 66,840 shares in the last quarter. Beck Bode LLC raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 21.3% in the 1st quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 180,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,677,000 after purchasing an additional 31,583 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 10.9% in the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 64,332 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,458,000 after purchasing an additional 6,310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $994,000. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.