Morgan Stanley Has Lowered Expectations for Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) Stock Price

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley cut its Xcel Energy price target from $92 to $89 while maintaining an “equal weight” rating, implying approximately 15.8% upside from the stock’s $76.86 price.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: Xcel has a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $92.41, with other firms assigning targets ranging from $92 to $101.
• Xcel beat quarterly EPS expectations, reporting $0.93 versus the $0.79 consensus, but revenue fell 5.1% year over year to $3.12 billion and missed estimates.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL - Get Free Report) had its price target lowered by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $92.00 to $89.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "equal weight" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley's target price suggests a potential upside of 15.79% from the stock's current price.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $96.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Monday, May 4th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Xcel Energy from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $101.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. BTIG Research reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $99.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $92.41.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

XEL traded down $1.85 on Friday, reaching $76.86. The company had a trading volume of 3,093,476 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,137,764. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.72. The company has a market cap of $48.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.70. Xcel Energy has a 52-week low of $71.29 and a 52-week high of $84.23.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 10.65%. Xcel Energy's revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.59 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xcel Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Xcel Energy by 365.3% during the 1st quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. now owns 349 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the period. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 73.8% during the fourth quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 471 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, First Bancorp Inc ME bought a new position in Xcel Energy in the second quarter worth about $36,000. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Xcel Energy Company Profile

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.

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