Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $42.00.

Several research firms recently issued reports on EXC. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Exelon in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $46.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Exelon from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group raised their price target on Exelon from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Exelon from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd.

Exelon Price Performance

Shares of Exelon stock opened at $38.05 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.54. Exelon has a one year low of $33.35 and a one year high of $41.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.98.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.85 billion. Exelon had a net margin of 10.60% and a return on equity of 9.47%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.67 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Exelon will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Exelon Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.99%. Exelon’s payout ratio is 62.55%.

Institutional Trading of Exelon

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. American National Bank & Trust grew its stake in shares of Exelon by 178.8% in the third quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 697 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Exelon during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Abound Wealth Management raised its holdings in Exelon by 502.7% in the second quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 892 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 744 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Exelon by 56.7% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 379 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Exelon during the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Exelon Company 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.