Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 22,726 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,512,582 shares of the company’s stock after selling 22,726 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $164,072,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in XEL. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,143,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,445,477,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323,448 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 6.2% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 15,190,756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $991,956,000 after purchasing an additional 892,740 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,562,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $952,091,000 after buying an additional 262,191 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 2.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,417,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $223,170,000 after buying an additional 67,820 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brookfield Corp ON raised its position in Xcel Energy by 520.1% in the 3rd quarter. Brookfield Corp ON now owns 2,509,031 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,840,000 after buying an additional 2,104,405 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

XEL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays upped their price target on Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Argus upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Xcel Energy from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.17.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 0.4 %

XEL opened at $66.65 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.70. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $46.79 and a 1-year high of $73.38. The stock has a market cap of $38.27 billion, a PE ratio of 19.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.41.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.26 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.93 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.67% and a return on equity of 10.76%. Xcel Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.23 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 6th will be given a $0.5475 dividend. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 6th. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is 64.99%.

Xcel Energy Profile

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.