Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 84,979 Shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Clearbridge Investments LLC reduced its holdings in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 8.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 917,303 shares of the company’s stock after selling 84,979 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Exelon were worth $34,527,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in EXC. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,064,673 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Exelon by 3.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,169,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,439,862,000 after purchasing an additional 2,156,259 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Exelon during the 4th quarter worth approximately $479,597,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 282,596 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Exelon from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Evercore ISI upgraded Exelon from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $43.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Guggenheim raised Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Exelon from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelon in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.13.

Insider Activity at Exelon

In other Exelon news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Exelon Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Exelon stock opened at $45.92 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. Exelon Co. has a 12-month low of $34.01 and a 12-month high of $46.28. The company has a market capitalization of $46.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.74, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.51. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $42.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.23.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 an increase from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.31%.

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.