Russell Investments Group Ltd. Grows Position in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 0.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,072,627 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 930 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Exelon were worth $115,653,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EXC. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in Exelon by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 46,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,869,000 after acquiring an additional 1,868 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in shares of Exelon by 18.5% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 17,581 shares of the company’s stock worth $714,000 after purchasing an additional 2,741 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Exelon by 2.9% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 253,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,276,000 after purchasing an additional 7,213 shares in the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Exelon by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,117 shares of the company’s stock valued at $816,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the period. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Exelon by 51.2% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 75,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,072,000 after purchasing an additional 25,656 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EXC. Evercore ISI upgraded Exelon from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelon in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group boosted 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.13.

Insider Activity at Exelon

In related news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were 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 represents a 39.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Exelon Trading Down 4.0 %

Shares of EXC opened at $45.35 on Friday. Exelon Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.01 and a fifty-two week high of $48.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company’s fifty day moving average is $43.17 and its 200 day moving average is $40.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.78 billion, a PE ratio of 18.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.39.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. This is an increase from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Exelon’s payout ratio is currently 65.31%.

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.