Blue Trust Inc. Sells 4,541 Shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Blue Trust Inc. lowered its stake in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 42.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,222 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,541 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Exelon were worth $234,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted 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 buying an additional 2,156,259 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Exelon by 1.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,945,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,048,823,000 after buying an additional 403,542 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Exelon by 18.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,782,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $477,782,000 after buying an additional 1,858,502 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Exelon by 1.8% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,967,343 shares of the company’s stock valued at $363,626,000 after buying an additional 160,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted 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 buying an additional 123,466 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exelon

In other Exelon news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.57, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their price target 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. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Exelon from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Exelon from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $44.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.38.

Exelon Price Performance

Shares of EXC opened at $42.65 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $42.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.41, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.56. Exelon Co. has a 1-year low of $34.01 and a 1-year high of $43.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 prior year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This is an increase from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 24th. Exelon’s payout ratio is currently 62.04%.

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.