Bank of America Increases Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) Price Target to $66.00

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) had its target price hoisted by analysts at Bank of America from $63.00 to $66.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Bank of America‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 22.84% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. TheStreet downgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Barclays raised shares of Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $61.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ:XEL opened at $53.73 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $29.85 billion, a PE ratio of 16.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.36. Xcel Energy has a 12 month low of $46.79 and a 12 month high of $70.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $53.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.00.

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

Institutional Trading of Xcel Energy

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the first quarter valued at about $3,584,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 4.6% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 138,796 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,460,000 after purchasing an additional 6,068 shares during the period. SpiderRock Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the first quarter valued at about $201,000. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the first quarter valued at about $511,000. Finally, Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 47.4% in the first quarter. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $283,000 after purchasing an additional 1,692 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.