Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) Stock Price Expected to Rise, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Analyst Says

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) had its target price boosted by research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $91.00 to $102.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 29.49% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on XEL. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $96.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Monday, May 4th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $101.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $89.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.76.

Xcel Energy Trading Down 1.5%

Xcel Energy stock opened at $78.77 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $79.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $79.05. Xcel Energy has a 52 week low of $69.16 and a 52 week high of $84.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.39.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.91. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 14.14% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The firm had revenue of $4.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Xcel Energy will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Xcel Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of XEL. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 63.6% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 9,979,397 shares of the company’s stock worth $737,078,000 after purchasing an additional 3,881,011 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Xcel Energy by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 24,572,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,814,920,000 after purchasing an additional 3,546,423 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 37.1% in the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 8,871,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $704,780,000 after purchasing an additional 2,399,089 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 9.0% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 26,262,079 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,788,448,000 after purchasing an additional 2,157,602 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 4,530.7% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,024,541 shares of the company’s stock worth $149,538,000 after buying an additional 1,980,821 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.