Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lowered its position in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 122,185 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,964 shares during the quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Exelon were worth $4,386,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Xponance Inc. increased its position in Exelon by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 129,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,650,000 after purchasing an additional 3,271 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its position in Exelon by 262.8% during the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 3,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Steph & Co. increased its position in Exelon by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 19,831 shares of the company’s stock worth $712,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd increased its position in Exelon by 38.0% during the 4th quarter. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd now owns 2,349,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,350,000 after purchasing an additional 646,710 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KLCM Advisors Inc. increased its position in Exelon by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 7,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,000 after purchasing an additional 1,448 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Exelon Stock Performance

Exelon stock opened at $37.55 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $36.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.53 billion, a PE ratio of 16.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.81. Exelon Co. has a one year low of $33.35 and a one year high of $43.71.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $5.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.87 billion. Exelon had a return on equity of 9.40% and a net margin of 10.72%. Exelon’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Exelon Co. will post 2.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. This is an increase from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.05%. Exelon’s payout ratio is currently 65.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on EXC. TheStreet cut Exelon from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised Exelon from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Exelon from $38.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Mizuho raised Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, UBS Group lowered Exelon from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.09.

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.