Vanguard Group Inc. Boosts Position in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 127,335,351 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,064,673 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of Exelon worth $4,792,903,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Exelon by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 217,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,201,000 after purchasing an additional 14,158 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Exelon by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,624,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,158,000 after buying an additional 279,827 shares during the period. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Exelon by 431.3% in the third quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 395,840 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,051,000 after buying an additional 321,333 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Exelon by 3.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,169,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,439,862,000 after acquiring an additional 2,156,259 shares during the period. Finally, Greenup Street Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Exelon during the fourth quarter worth about $2,274,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Exelon

In other news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 2,271 shares in the company, valued at $92,134.47. The trade was a 39.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on EXC shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on Exelon from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelon in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Guggenheim raised shares of Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Exelon from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.13.

Exelon Stock Down 0.5 %

EXC opened at $43.58 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $44.00 billion, a PE ratio of 17.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.51. Exelon Co. has a twelve month low of $34.01 and a twelve month high of $45.20. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $42.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.00. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. Exelon had a return on equity of 9.52% and a net margin of 10.68%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This is a boost from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Exelon’s payout ratio is 65.31%.

About Exelon

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.