Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.08, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $3.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 12.47% and a return on equity of 10.78%. The company’s revenue was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. Xcel Energy updated its FY24 guidance to $3.50-3.60 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance to 3.500-3.600 EPS.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of XEL stock traded down $1.05 on Friday, reaching $53.96. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,334,147 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,418,778. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.10. Xcel Energy has a 1 year low of $46.79 and a 1 year high of $70.72. The company has a market capitalization of $29.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.548 per share. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on XEL. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Barclays upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $61.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price target on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.58.

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.