Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.40

Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 12th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be paid a dividend of 0.40 per share on Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 24th. This is a boost from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38.

Exelon has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 0.2% annually over the last three years. Exelon has a payout ratio of 57.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Exelon to earn $2.63 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 60.8%.

Exelon Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EXC opened at $42.97 on Friday. Exelon has a 12-month low of $34.01 and a 12-month high of $43.45. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.84. The company has a market capitalization of $43.18 billion, a PE ratio of 17.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. Exelon had a return on equity of 9.47% and a net margin of 10.60%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Exelon will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exelon

In other Exelon news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.57, for a total transaction of $59,353.91. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 2,271 shares in the company, valued at approximately $92,134.47. This represents a 39.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on EXC. Guggenheim upgraded Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Exelon from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays dropped their target price on Exelon from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Exelon from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.38.

Exelon Company Profile

Exelon Corporation, a utility services holding company, engages in the energy distribution and transmission businesses in the United States and Canada. The company is involved in the purchase and regulated retail sale of electricity and natural gas, transmission and distribution of electricity, and distribution of natural gas to retail customers.