Cetera Investment Advisers Trims Stake in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Cetera Investment Advisers trimmed its position in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 11.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 143,809 shares of the company’s stock after selling 18,492 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Exelon were worth $4,977,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Exelon by 16.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,310,761 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,956,525,000 after purchasing an additional 14,749,899 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Exelon by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 93,146,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,343,945,000 after buying an additional 2,352,547 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Exelon by 112.4% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 31,527,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,184,483,000 after buying an additional 16,686,526 shares in the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Exelon by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 9,711,396 shares of the company’s stock worth $348,639,000 after buying an additional 274,967 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Exelon by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 4,887,035 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,606,000 after acquiring an additional 113,428 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Exelon Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EXC opened at $39.61 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. Exelon Co. has a twelve month low of $33.35 and a twelve month high of $41.48. The company’s 50 day moving average is $38.73 and its 200 day moving average is $37.33. The company has a market cap of $39.63 billion, a PE ratio of 17.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.53.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.07. Exelon had a net margin of 10.65% and a return on equity of 9.40%. The firm had revenue of $5.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.98 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Exelon Co. will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Exelon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.84%. Exelon’s payout ratio is 65.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on EXC. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Exelon from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Exelon in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $46.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank upped their target price on Exelon from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays raised their price target on Exelon from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.08.

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.