Vontobel Holding Ltd. Grows Stock Position in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 89.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,759 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,539 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Exelon were worth $443,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EXC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Exelon by 109.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,884,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $238,608,000 after acquiring an additional 3,068,309 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 2,156,259 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,018,604 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,858,502 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,293,753 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Exelon Stock Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ EXC opened at $43.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $43.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.56. Exelon Co. has a one year low of $34.01 and a one year high of $43.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $39.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.05.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last posted 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 prior year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 2,271 shares in the company, valued at approximately $92,134.47. This represents a 39.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on EXC. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Guggenheim upgraded Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI upgraded Exelon from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on 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 dropped their price target on 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 assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.