Principle Wealth Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 45,655 Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Principle Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 45,655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,639,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EXC. Antonetti Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Exelon by 98.8% in the third quarter. Antonetti Capital Management LLC now owns 805 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Exelon by 50.3% in the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 825 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Exelon in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Exelon in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Peoples Bank KS bought a new stake in Exelon during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Exelon from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Exelon from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. UBS Group cut Exelon from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. StockNews.com raised Exelon from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, TheStreet cut Exelon from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.92.

Exelon Price Performance

EXC stock opened at $37.32 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $36.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.07. Exelon Co. has a 52-week low of $33.35 and a 52-week high of $43.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.02, a PEG ratio of 2.72 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 (NASDAQ:EXC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.02. Exelon had a net margin of 10.72% and a return on equity of 9.40%. The company had revenue of $5.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Exelon Co. will post 2.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a $0.38 dividend. This is a positive change from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. Exelon’s payout ratio is presently 65.24%.

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.