Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $155.84 Million Stock Holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 5.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,961,725 shares of the company’s stock after selling 121,682 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.31% of Xcel Energy worth $155,840,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $240,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 30.7% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 13,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $978,000 after purchasing an additional 3,242 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 48,515 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,434,000 after purchasing an additional 14,029 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 4.8% in the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,193 shares of the company’s stock worth $694,000 after purchasing an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 16.0% in the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 2,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on XEL. Mizuho dropped their target price on Xcel Energy from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $101.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $96.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, New Street Research set a $91.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.00.

Xcel Energy Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of Xcel Energy stock opened at $80.17 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $50.05 billion, a PE ratio of 23.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.39. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $68.01 and a 1 year high of $84.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $79.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.98.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91. The company had revenue of $4.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.21 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 14.14% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $0.5925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is currently 68.30%.

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.