BMO Capital Markets Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) Stock

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) had its target price hoisted by stock analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $90.00 to $94.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 18.91% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on XEL. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Xcel Energy in a research report on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $95.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Xcel Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. UBS Group upped their target price on Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley set a $92.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Argus set a $86.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.12.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

XEL traded down $0.03 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $79.05. The stock had a trading volume of 478,640 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,797,627. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. Xcel Energy has a 1-year low of $65.21 and a 1-year high of $84.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $80.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.78.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96. The firm had revenue of $3.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.77 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.46% and a net margin of 13.76%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.81 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Xcel Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of XEL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,610,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,732,334,000 after purchasing an additional 885,085 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,340,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,704,534,000 after purchasing an additional 444,092 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 28,851,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,326,872,000 after purchasing an additional 2,589,406 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 16.9% during the 4th 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 period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,526,873 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,574,842,000 after purchasing an additional 807,353 shares during the period. 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.