Banco Santander S.A. Increases Stock Holdings in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Banco Santander S.A. grew its stake in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 17.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 136,407 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,089 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Exelon were worth $5,134,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EXC. Czech National Bank boosted its position in shares of Exelon by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 217,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,201,000 after purchasing an additional 14,158 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its holdings in shares of Exelon by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,624,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,158,000 after buying an additional 279,827 shares in the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Exelon by 431.3% in the 3rd quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 395,840 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,051,000 after buying an additional 321,333 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Exelon by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,446,408 shares of the company’s stock worth $261,402,000 after acquiring an additional 123,466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in Exelon by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,169,219 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,439,862,000 after acquiring an additional 2,156,259 shares during the period. 80.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Exelon

In other news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.57, for a total value of $59,353.91. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,271 shares in the company, 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 at this link. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Exelon Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EXC opened at $43.11 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $43.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.54. Exelon Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.01 and a fifty-two week high of $45.19.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share 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 earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. This is a positive change from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Exelon’s payout ratio is presently 65.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on EXC. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI raised Exelon from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays increased their target price on Exelon from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded shares of Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Exelon presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.13.

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.