Schroder Investment Management Group Has $59.33 Million Stock Holdings in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 86.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,576,632 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 732,355 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group’s holdings in Exelon were worth $59,329,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EXC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Exelon by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 127,335,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,792,903,000 after buying an additional 3,064,673 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Exelon by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,169,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,439,862,000 after acquiring an additional 2,156,259 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Exelon by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,945,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,048,823,000 after acquiring an additional 403,542 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Exelon during the 4th quarter valued at $479,597,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Exelon by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,729,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,280,000 after purchasing an additional 282,596 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on EXC. Evercore ISI raised shares of Exelon from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelon in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays upped their target price on Exelon from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Exelon from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.13.

Exelon Price Performance

Exelon stock opened at $46.08 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $46.52 billion, a PE ratio of 18.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $42.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.19. Exelon Co. has a one year low of $34.01 and a one year high of $46.22.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. Exelon had a return on equity of 9.52% and a net margin of 10.68%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a positive change from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.47%. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.31%.

Insider Activity at Exelon

In related news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.57, for a total value of $59,353.91. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,271 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,134.47. This trade represents a 39.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.