Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXCGet Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 19,170,000 shares, a growth of 16.6% from the October 31st total of 16,440,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 6,660,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days. Approximately 1.9% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on EXC shares. Scotiabank upped their price target on Exelon from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note 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 report on Tuesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Exelon in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $46.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Exelon from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.25.

Get Our Latest Report on EXC

Exelon Price Performance

Shares of EXC stock traded up $0.05 on Friday, reaching $39.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,407,408 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,986,328. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.88. Exelon has a 1 year low of $33.35 and a 1 year high of $41.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The company has a market capitalization of $39.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.54.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXCGet Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.04. Exelon had a return on equity of 9.47% and a net margin of 10.60%. The business had revenue of $6.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.67 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Exelon will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.84%. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.55%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exelon during the first quarter worth approximately $252,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in Exelon by 262.5% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 162,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,098,000 after purchasing an additional 117,532 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Exelon by 33.6% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 57,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,146,000 after purchasing an additional 14,366 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Exelon by 34.5% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,399 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,000 after purchasing an additional 616 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Exelon by 45.7% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 12,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,000 after buying an additional 3,815 shares during the period. 80.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Exelon

(Get Free Report)

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.

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