Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) Lifted to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Monday morning.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Evercore ISI cut Exelon from an outperform rating to an in-line rating in a research note on Friday, December 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Exelon from $45.00 to $38.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley lowered Exelon from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Monday, December 18th. Seaport Res Ptn cut Exelon from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 Thursday, February 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Exelon has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $39.09.

Exelon Stock Up 0.7 %

Exelon stock opened at $37.57 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.53. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $33.35 and a fifty-two week high of $43.71. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $35.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.44.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.02. Exelon had a return on equity of 9.40% and a net margin of 10.72%. The business had revenue of $5.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Exelon will post 2.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exelon

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Exelon by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 93,146,101 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,343,945,000 after purchasing an additional 2,352,547 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Exelon by 1.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,856,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,560,769,000 after purchasing an additional 837,508 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Exelon by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 32,894,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,232,236,000 after acquiring an additional 343,201 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Exelon by 1.4% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,515,401 shares of the company’s stock worth $773,655,000 after purchasing an additional 263,797 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Exelon by 133.2% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 17,371,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $707,721,000 after purchasing an additional 9,923,059 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

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.