Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report) by 15.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,083,407 shares of the company's stock after selling 384,734 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.35% of Xcel Energy worth $153,881,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.7% in the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 7,358 shares of the company's stock worth $593,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.0% in the third quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 12,683 shares of the company's stock worth $1,022,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Warwick Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 2.9% in the third quarter. Warwick Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,970 shares of the company's stock worth $401,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Intrust Bank NA boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.3% in the third quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 11,360 shares of the company's stock worth $916,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GeoWealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 4.8% in the third quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 3,185 shares of the company's stock worth $257,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on XEL shares. Mizuho set a $86.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Argus set a $86.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Xcel Energy from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $91.13.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of XEL stock opened at $81.45 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $50.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.41. The business's 50 day moving average is $80.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.21 and a 12-month high of $84.23.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) 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 return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 14.14%.Xcel Energy's revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.84 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This is an increase from Xcel Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. Xcel Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.30%.

About Xcel Energy

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding XEL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.