Xcel Energy (XEL) Stock Forecast & Price Target

$72.30 -1.33 (-1.81%)

Closing price 09/18/2026 04:00 PM Eastern

Extended Trading

$72.96 +0.66 (+0.91%)

As of 09/18/2026 07:55 PM Eastern

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Xcel Energy - Analysts' Recommendations and Stock Price Forecast (2026)

Consensus Rating

Buy

Based on 17 Analyst Ratings

Sell
0

Hold
1

Buy
16

Based on 17 Wall Street analysts who have issued ratings for Xcel Energy in the last 12 months, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy." Out of the 17 analysts, 1 has given a hold rating, 14 have given a buy rating, and 2 have given a strong buy rating for XEL.

Consensus Price Target

$92.06
27.33% Upside

According to the 17 analysts' twelve-month price targets for Xcel Energy, the average price target is $92.06. The highest price target for XEL is $102.00, while the lowest price target for XEL is $83.00. The average price target represents a forecasted upside of 27.33% from the current price of $72.30.

MarketBeat calculates consensus analyst ratings for stocks using the most recent rating from each Wall Street analyst that has rated a stock within the last twelve months. Each analyst's rating is normalized to a standardized rating score of 1 (sell), 2 (hold), 3 (buy) or 4 (strong buy). Analyst consensus ratings scores are calculated using the mean average of the number of normalized sell, hold, buy and strong buy ratings from Wall Street analysts. Each stock's consensus analyst rating is derived from its calculated consensus ratings score (0 to .5 = Strong Sell, .5 to 1 = Sell, 1 to 1.5 = Reduce, 1.5 to 2.5 = Hold, 2.5 to 3.0 = Moderate Buy, 3.0 to 3.5 = Buy, >3.5 = Strong Buy). MarketBeat's consensus price targets are a mean average of the most recent available price targets set by each analyst that has set a price target for the stock in the last twelve months. MarketBeat's consensus ratings and consensus price targets may differ from those calculated by other firms due to differences in methodology and available data.

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XEL Analyst Ratings Over Time

Type	Current Forecast 9/19/25 to 9/19/26	1 Month Ago 8/20/25 to 8/20/26	3 Months Ago 6/21/25 to 6/21/26	1 Year Ago 9/19/24 to 9/19/25
Strong Buy	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3 Strong Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)
Buy	14 Buy rating(s)	14 Buy rating(s)	13 Buy rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)
Hold	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)
Sell	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Sell rating(s)	0 Sell rating(s)
Consensus Price Target	$92.06	$92.41	$90.63	$76.80
Forecasted Upside	27.33% Upside	17.41% Upside	17.07% Upside	6.50% Upside
Consensus Rating	Buy	Buy	Buy	Moderate Buy

XEL Analyst Recommendations By Month

The chart below shows how a company's ratings by analysts have changed over time. Each bar represents the previous year of ratings for that month. Within each bar, the sell ratings are shown in red, the hold ratings are shown in yellow, the buy ratings are shown in green, and the strong buy ratings are shown in dark green.

XEL Price Targets by Month

The chart below shows how a company's share price and consensus price target have changed over time. The dark blue line represents the company's actual price. The lighter blue line represents the stock's consensus price target. The even lighter blue range in the background of the two lines represents the low price target and the high price target for each stock.

Xcel Energy Stock vs. The Competition

Type	Xcel Energy	Utilities Companies	Broader Market
Consensus Rating Score	3.06	2.37	2.53
Consensus Rating	Buy	Hold	Moderate Buy
Predicted Upside	27.33% Upside	66.70% Upside	18.44% Upside
News Sentiment Rating	Positive News See Recent XEL News	Positive News	Positive News

Recent Analyst Forecasts and Stock Ratings

Rating

Upside/Downside

Action

Time Frame

Start Date

End Date

Show

Export

Date	Brokerage	Analyst	Action	Rating	Price Target	Report Date Upside/Downside
9/18/2026	Morgan Stanley 3 of 5 stars	David Arcaro 3 of 5 stars	Lower Target	Equal Weight	$89.00 ➝ $83.00	+14.31%
9/14/2026	Weiss Ratings 5 of 5 stars		Reiterated Rating	Buy (B-)
8/13/2026	Truist Financial 3 of 5 stars	Richard Sunderland Not Rated	Lower Target	Buy	$94.00 ➝ $88.00	+11.28%
7/31/2026	BTIG Research Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating		Reiterated Rating	Buy	$99.00	+26.09%
7/31/2026	Mizuho Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Anthony Crowdell Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Set Target		$92.00	+17.17%
7/22/2026	BMO Capital Markets Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	James Thalacker Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Lower Target	Outperform	$95.00 ➝ $92.00	+15.21%
7/16/2026	JPMorgan Chase & Co. Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Jeremy Tonet Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Boost Target	Overweight	$91.00 ➝ $102.00	+27.82%
7/9/2026	Barclays Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Nicholas Campanella Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Boost Target	Overweight	$87.00 ➝ $90.00	+13.88%
7/7/2026	Jefferies Financial Group Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating		Set Target		$101.00	+25.67%
6/23/2026	New Street Research Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating		Set Target		$91.00	+14.93%
Get the Latest News and Ratings for XEL and Related Stocks Enter your email address below to receive the latest news and analysts' ratings for Xcel Energy and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.
6/8/2026	KeyCorp Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Sophie Karp Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Reiterated Rating	Overweight
5/4/2026	Evercore Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating		Reiterated Rating	Outperform	$96.00	+16.69%
4/20/2026	UBS Group Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	William Appicelli Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Boost Target	Buy	$89.00 ➝ $91.00	+11.24%
3/12/2026	Argus Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Gary Hovis Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Set Target		$86.00	+6.17%
1/23/2026	Royal Bank Of Canada Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Stephen D'Ambrisi Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Reiterated Rating	Outperform	$95.00	+26.97%
11/3/2025	Citigroup Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Ryan Levine Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Boost Target	Buy	$80.00 ➝ $92.00	+13.34%
10/16/2025	TD Cowen Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating		Initiated Coverage	Buy	$93.00	+13.69%
9/25/2025	Bank of America Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	Julien Dumoulin-Smith Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Boost Target	Buy	$78.00 ➝ $84.00	+7.79%
4/25/2025	Wells Fargo & Company Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the firm's recommendation accuracy rating	N. Kalton Subscribe to MarketBeat All Access for the analyst's recommendation accuracy rating	Set Target	Overweight	$78.00	+12.10%

Analyst ratings data on MarketBeat is provided by Benzinga and other data providers. This page was last refreshed on Saturday at 02:38 PM ET.

Should I Buy Xcel Energy Stock? XEL Pros and Cons Explained

These pros and cons were generated based on recent news and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate insights. They were last updated on Tuesday, September 15, 2026. Please send any questions or comments about these Xcel Energy pros and cons to contact@marketbeat.com.

Xcel Energy
Bull Case

Here are some ways that investors could benefit from investing in Xcel Energy Inc.:

The stock is currently trading at $72.49, which is significantly below the consensus price target of $92.41, suggesting substantial upside potential for investors who believe the market is undervaluing the company's future earnings.
Xcel Energy Inc. offers a stable dividend yield of 3.20%, providing a reliable income stream for investors, with the most recent quarterly dividend of $0.5925 per share scheduled to be paid on October 20th.
The company demonstrated strong earnings performance in the most recent quarter, reporting an EPS of $0.93, which beat the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.14, indicating better-than-expected profitability.
With a beta of 0.39, the stock exhibits low volatility compared to the broader market, making it a defensive investment that may hold its value better during periods of market uncertainty.
Institutional investors continue to show confidence in the company, with Bank of America Corp DE increasing its stake by 1.7% in the second quarter and National Pension Service boosting its holdings by 6.3%, signaling strong institutional support.

Xcel Energy
Bear Case

Investors should be bearish about investing in Xcel Energy Inc. for these reasons:

The company's revenue declined by 5.1% year-over-year in the most recent quarter, falling to $3.12 billion against a consensus estimate of $3.54 billion, indicating potential challenges in maintaining top-line growth.
Short interest has been increasing, with 41,224,049 shares shorted as of the latest record date, representing a 1.26% month-to-month increase, which suggests that some investors are betting against the stock's future performance.
The stock is trading near its 52-week low of $71.35, having dropped from a high of $84.23, which may indicate a downward trend or lack of investor confidence in the company's near-term prospects.
The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, which is relatively high for a utility company, potentially limiting its financial flexibility and increasing its risk profile in a rising interest rate environment.
Recent unusual options trading activity, including a 1,425% increase in put option volume, suggests that some market participants are hedging against or betting on a decline in the stock price.

XEL Forecast - Frequently Asked Questions

According to the research reports of 17 Wall Street equities research analysts, the average twelve-month stock price forecast for Xcel Energy is $92.06, with a high forecast of $102.00 and a low forecast of $83.00.

17 Wall Street analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Xcel Energy in the last twelve months. There is currently 1 hold rating, 14 buy ratings and 2 strong buy ratings for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street analysts is that investors should "buy" XEL shares.

According to analysts, Xcel Energy's stock has a predicted upside of 27.33% based on their 12-month stock forecasts.

Xcel Energy has been rated by research analysts at Barclays, BMO Capital Markets, BTIG Research, Jefferies Financial Group, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Mizuho, Morgan Stanley, New Street Research, Truist Financial, and Weiss Ratings in the past 90 days.

Analysts like Xcel Energy more than other "utilities" companies. The consensus rating for Xcel Energy is Buy while the average consensus rating for "utilities" companies is Hold. Learn more on how XEL compares to other companies.

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MarketBeat monitors more than a dozen sources for Xcel Energy analyst ratings, with the most recent rating issued on 9/18/2026.

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Xcel Energy (XEL) Stock Forecast & Price Target

Xcel Energy - Analysts' Recommendations and Stock Price Forecast (2026)

Consensus Rating

Consensus Price Target

XEL Analyst Ratings Over Time

XEL Analyst Recommendations By Month

XEL Price Targets by Month

Xcel Energy Stock vs. The Competition

Recent Analyst Forecasts and Stock Ratings

Should I Buy Xcel Energy Stock? XEL Pros and Cons Explained

Xcel Energy
Bull Case

Xcel Energy
Bear Case

XEL Forecast - Frequently Asked Questions

Stock Forecasts and Research Tools

Today's Analyst Ratings

Top-Rated Stocks

More Ratings Tools

Brokerages With Xcel Energy Recommendations

Best-in-Class Portfolio Monitoring

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Xcel Energy (XEL) Stock Forecast & Price Target

Xcel Energy - Analysts' Recommendations and Stock Price Forecast (2026)

Consensus Rating

Consensus Price Target

XEL Analyst Ratings Over Time

XEL Analyst Recommendations By Month

XEL Price Targets by Month

Xcel Energy Stock vs. The Competition

Recent Analyst Forecasts and Stock Ratings

Should I Buy Xcel Energy Stock? XEL Pros and Cons Explained

Xcel Energy Bull Case

Xcel Energy Bear Case

XEL Forecast - Frequently Asked Questions

What is Xcel Energy's forecast for 2026?

Should I buy or sell Xcel Energy stock right now?

Does Xcel Energy's stock price have much upside?

What analysts cover Xcel Energy?

Do Wall Street analysts like Xcel Energy more than its competitors?

Stock Forecasts and Research Tools

Today's Analyst Ratings

Top-Rated Stocks

More Ratings Tools

Brokerages With Xcel Energy Recommendations

MarketBeat All Access Features

Best-in-Class Portfolio Monitoring

Stock Ideas and Recommendations

Advanced Stock Screeners and Research Tools

Xcel Energy
Bull Case

Xcel Energy
Bear Case