Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) Shares Acquired by Key Financial Inc

Key Financial Inc increased its position in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,462 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 718 shares during the period. Key Financial Inc’s holdings in Exelon were worth $243,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of Exelon by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 217,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,201,000 after purchasing an additional 14,158 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of Exelon by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,624,805 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,158,000 after purchasing an additional 279,827 shares in the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Exelon by 431.3% during the third quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 395,840 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,051,000 after purchasing an additional 321,333 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Exelon by 2.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,446,408 shares of the company’s stock valued at $261,402,000 after acquiring an additional 123,466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in Exelon by 3.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,169,219 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,439,862,000 after acquiring an additional 2,156,259 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Exelon Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ EXC opened at $42.70 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.56. Exelon Co. has a 52-week low of $34.01 and a 52-week high of $43.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $39.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. Exelon had a net margin of 10.68% and a return on equity of 9.52%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a boost from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 24th. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Exelon news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.57, for a total transaction of $59,353.91. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Exelon from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Exelon from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.38.

Exelon 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.