D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC - Free Report) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 431,486 shares of the company's stock after selling 34,078 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Exelon were worth $16,241,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in EXC. DC Investments Management LLC boosted its stake in Exelon by 73.4% in the fourth quarter. DC Investments Management LLC now owns 47,107 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,773,000 after acquiring an additional 19,934 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in shares of Exelon by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 17,089,308 shares of the company's stock valued at $643,242,000 after purchasing an additional 1,706,184 shares during the last quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC boosted its position in shares of Exelon by 43.6% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 1,344 shares of the company's stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its stake in Exelon by 35.6% during the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 4,003 shares of the company's stock worth $151,000 after buying an additional 1,050 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in Exelon by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 238,312 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,970,000 after buying an additional 6,783 shares in the last quarter. 80.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Exelon Stock Performance

Shares of EXC stock traded up $0.66 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $44.09. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,843,028 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,274,826. The company has a 50 day moving average of $45.22 and a 200 day moving average of $41.51. The stock has a market cap of $44.51 billion, a PE ratio of 18.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. Exelon Co. has a 12-month low of $34.01 and a 12-month high of $48.11.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $6.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.30 billion. Exelon had a return on equity of 9.52% and a net margin of 10.68%. Exelon's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. Exelon's dividend payout ratio is currently 59.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on EXC shares. UBS Group raised their price target on Exelon from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Exelon from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $39.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $47.30.

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.