Barclays Boosts Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) Price Target to $72.00

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report) had its price target lifted by Barclays from $69.00 to $72.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on XEL. UBS Group boosted their target price on Xcel Energy from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Xcel Energy from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Xcel Energy from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Xcel Energy from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $73.00.

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Xcel Energy Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of Xcel Energy stock traded up $1.24 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $72.14. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,571,840 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,571,682. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.93. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $68.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.39. The company has a market capitalization of $41.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.37. Xcel Energy has a one year low of $51.97 and a one year high of $73.38.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.06). Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.65% and a net margin of 14.40%. On average, research analysts forecast that Xcel Energy will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, April 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.16%. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Xcel Energy's payout ratio is presently 66.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Devin W. Stockfish bought 2,170 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $68.93 per share, with a total value of $149,578.10. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,007 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $207,272.51. The trade was a 259.26 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in XEL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Xcel Energy by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 73,831,988 shares of the company's stock worth $4,985,136,000 after buying an additional 953,002 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 6.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,143,025 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,445,477,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323,448 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 43.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 20,762,745 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,401,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,306,380 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 19,291,149 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,302,538,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022,194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 17,613,239 shares of the company's stock worth $1,189,246,000 after acquiring an additional 2,422,483 shares during the last quarter. 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.