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

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.08, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.78% and a net margin of 12.47%. Xcel Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. 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 NASDAQ XEL traded down $1.05 during trading on Friday, reaching $53.96. The company had a trading volume of 6,334,147 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,418,778. Xcel Energy has a 52 week low of $46.79 and a 52 week high of $70.72. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $53.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.10. The stock has a market cap of $29.97 billion, a PE ratio of 16.88, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on XEL shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. StockNews.com lowered Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays upgraded Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $61.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Xcel Energy currently has an average 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.