Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 3,064,673 Shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 127,335,351 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,064,673 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 12.67% of Exelon worth $4,792,903,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exelon during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Stephens Consulting LLC lifted its stake in Exelon by 78.1% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 782 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Exelon during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Exelon during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its stake in shares of Exelon by 119.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on Exelon from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelon in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Guggenheim raised shares of Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Exelon from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Exelon from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Exelon has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of Exelon stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were 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 trade represents a 39.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Exelon Stock Performance

Shares of Exelon stock opened at $43.58 on Tuesday. Exelon Co. has a one year low of $34.01 and a one year high of $45.20. The company has a market capitalization of $44.00 billion, a PE ratio of 17.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.51. 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 has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.00.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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. Research analysts expect that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were given a $0.40 dividend. This is a boost from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.67%. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.