ClearBridge Investments Ltd Reduces Stock Holdings in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

ClearBridge Investments Ltd lowered its holdings in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 10.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,089 shares of the company’s stock after selling 816 shares during the quarter. Exelon makes up approximately 0.0% of ClearBridge Investments Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. ClearBridge Investments Ltd’s holdings in Exelon were worth $267,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Exelon during the 4th quarter valued at $479,597,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Exelon by 109.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,884,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $238,608,000 after purchasing an additional 3,068,309 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Exelon by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 127,335,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,792,903,000 after buying an additional 3,064,673 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Exelon by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 6,174,458 shares of the company’s stock worth $235,390,000 after buying an additional 2,160,201 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Exelon by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,169,219 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,439,862,000 after buying an additional 2,156,259 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EXC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelon in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Exelon from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Exelon from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Exelon from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.13.

Insider Transactions at Exelon

In other Exelon news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of Exelon stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.57, for a total transaction of $59,353.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,271 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,134.47. The trade was a 39.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Exelon Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of EXC opened at $44.71 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.14. Exelon Co. has a 1 year low of $34.01 and a 1 year high of $45.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.51.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 last year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.58%. This is a positive change from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.31%.

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.