Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) Shares Purchased by Clearbridge Investments LLC

Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 10.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,645,737 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 156,201 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Exelon were worth $61,830,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Exelon by 16.3% in 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 during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Exelon during the 4th quarter valued at about $382,015,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Exelon by 2.6% in the 4th 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 period. M&G Plc purchased a new position in Exelon in the first quarter valued at about $89,266,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia increased its holdings in Exelon by 122.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,424,949 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,154,000 after buying an additional 783,192 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Exelon Stock Performance

Exelon stock traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $36.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,370,815 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,872,531. Exelon Co. has a 12-month low of $33.35 and a 12-month high of $43.53. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $35.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a market capitalization of $36.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.46, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.52.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $6.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. Exelon had a return on equity of 9.27% and a net margin of 10.44%. Sell-side analysts predict that Exelon Co. will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on EXC. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Exelon from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Exelon from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Exelon from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Exelon from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Exelon from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.09.

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.