Clearbridge Investments LLC Increases Stake in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 10.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,645,737 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 156,201 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned 0.16% of Exelon worth $61,830,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Heritage Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Exelon by 247.5% in the 4th quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors now owns 695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 495 shares during the last quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Exelon during the first quarter worth approximately $26,000. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A purchased a new stake in shares of Exelon during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Exelon by 174.4% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 722 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Exelon in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EXC has been the subject of several research reports. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Exelon from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on Exelon from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Exelon from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Exelon from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Exelon from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.09.

Exelon Stock Performance

EXC traded up $0.60 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $36.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,370,815 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,872,531. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $35.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.19. Exelon Co. has a 52-week low of $33.35 and a 52-week high of $43.53. The company has a market capitalization of $36.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.52.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $6.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.70 billion. Exelon had a net margin of 10.44% and a return on equity of 9.27%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Exelon Co. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.17%. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.52%.

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.