Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) Upgraded to “Outperform” at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) from an in-line rating to an outperform rating in a research report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. Evercore ISI currently has $44.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $43.00.

EXC has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Exelon from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Exelon from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Exelon from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.38.

Exelon Price Performance

Exelon stock opened at $40.44 on Tuesday. 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 has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.27. Exelon has a 12 month low of $33.35 and a 12 month high of $41.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.64 billion, a PE ratio of 16.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.55.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.15 billion during 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%. Exelon’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.67 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Exelon will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Exelon Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.55%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exelon

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Exelon by 192.7% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 16,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $583,000 after buying an additional 11,098 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Exelon by 7.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,246,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,364,000 after purchasing an additional 237,950 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL increased its stake in Exelon by 9.2% in the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 31,109 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,077,000 after purchasing an additional 2,627 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Exelon by 3.5% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 118,789 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,111,000 after buying an additional 4,039 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in Exelon by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 280,195 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,698,000 after buying an additional 26,175 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.