Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $43.38.

EXC has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelon in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Evercore ISI raised 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. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. 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 report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th.

Exelon Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EXC opened at $43.39 on Monday. Exelon has a 52-week low of $34.01 and a 52-week high of $43.69. The company has a market capitalization of $43.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.11. 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 (NASDAQ:EXC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Exelon will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.69%. This is a boost from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.04%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of Exelon stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $92,134.47. The trade was a 39.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Exelon during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $479,597,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Exelon by 37.2% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 27,618,055 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,039,545,000 after buying an additional 7,483,873 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Exelon by 46.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 17,306,652 shares of the company’s stock worth $651,422,000 after purchasing an additional 5,524,103 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Exelon by 43.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 12,846,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $483,525,000 after purchasing an additional 3,878,687 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Exelon by 109.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,884,282 shares of the company’s stock worth $238,608,000 after purchasing an additional 3,068,309 shares during the period. 80.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.