Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) Shares Purchased by Principal Securities Inc.

Principal Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 10.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,612 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,160 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Exelon were worth $851,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Exelon by 109.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,884,282 shares of the company’s stock worth $238,608,000 after acquiring an additional 3,068,309 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in 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 during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Exelon by 418.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,501,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,152,000 after buying an additional 2,018,604 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Exelon by 18.7% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Exelon by 212.2% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,903,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,647,000 after buying an additional 1,293,753 shares during the period. 80.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 sale, the executive vice president now 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Exelon Price Performance

Shares of EXC opened at $43.17 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $43.40 billion, a PE ratio of 17.62, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $39.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.87. Exelon Co. has a twelve month low of $34.01 and a twelve month high of $43.45.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 10.68% and a return on equity of 9.52%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. This is a positive change from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Exelon’s payout ratio is 62.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Exelon from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Guggenheim raised shares of Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock 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 research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Exelon from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $44.00 in a report 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Exelon presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.38.

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.