Clarius Group LLC Raises Position in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Clarius Group LLC lifted its holdings in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 6.6% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,871 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 364 shares during the period. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Exelon were worth $203,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Exelon by 112.4% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 31,527,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,184,483,000 after acquiring an additional 16,686,526 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Exelon by 16.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,310,761 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,956,525,000 after purchasing an additional 14,749,899 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Exelon in the fourth quarter worth about $382,015,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Exelon in the first quarter worth about $96,859,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Exelon by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 93,146,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,343,945,000 after buying an additional 2,352,547 shares during the last quarter. 80.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Exelon Price Performance

Shares of Exelon stock traded down $0.10 on Friday, reaching $37.44. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,899,583 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,837,917. Exelon Co. has a 52-week low of $33.35 and a 52-week high of $42.15. The company has a market capitalization of $37.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.04, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $35.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.30.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.07. Exelon had a net margin of 10.65% and a return on equity of 9.40%. The company had revenue of $5.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.98 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.41 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Exelon Co. will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Exelon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th will be paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 12th. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on EXC shares. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Exelon from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Exelon from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Exelon from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Exelon from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Exelon from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.27.

About Exelon

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.