Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) Short Interest Down 16.3% in July

Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) saw a large decline in short interest in July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 15,640,000 shares, a decline of 16.3% from the July 15th total of 18,680,000 shares. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 7,250,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exelon

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in Exelon by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,018,676 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,570,000 after buying an additional 23,270 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Exelon by 16.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,310,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,956,525,000 after purchasing an additional 14,749,899 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in Exelon by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,096,272 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,968,000 after purchasing an additional 277,635 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in Exelon by 10.5% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,645,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,830,000 after buying an additional 156,201 shares during the period. Finally, Duality Advisers LP boosted its holdings in shares of Exelon by 225.3% during the 4th quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 122,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,380,000 after buying an additional 84,498 shares in the last quarter. 80.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Exelon Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:EXC traded up $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $37.61. 5,962,282 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,869,449. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $33.35 and a fifty-two week high of $42.15. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.21, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.52.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $5.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.98 billion. Exelon had a net margin of 10.65% and a return on equity of 9.40%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Exelon will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Exelon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th will be given a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.04%. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Exelon from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Exelon from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Exelon from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Exelon from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Exelon from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.27.

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.