Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.08 EPS

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) released its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.08, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $3.65 billion during 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%. Xcel Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $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 Stock Performance

XEL traded down $1.05 on Friday, reaching $53.96. The stock had a trading volume of 6,334,147 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,418,778. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $53.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.10. The company has a market cap of $29.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.36. Xcel Energy has a 12-month low of $46.79 and a 12-month high of $70.72. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.548 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. 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 yield of 4.06%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 68.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $61.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Xcel Energy from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. TheStreet downgraded Xcel Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Xcel Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.