Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) Shares Purchased by Ethic Inc.

Ethic Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC - Free Report) by 31.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 246,593 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 58,517 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Exelon were worth $9,282,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Exelon during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $479,597,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Exelon by 37.2% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 27,618,055 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,039,545,000 after acquiring an additional 7,483,873 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Exelon by 46.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 17,306,652 shares of the company's stock valued at $651,422,000 after acquiring an additional 5,524,103 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Exelon by 109.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,884,282 shares of the company's stock valued at $238,608,000 after acquiring an additional 3,068,309 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Exelon by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 127,335,351 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,792,903,000 after acquiring an additional 3,064,673 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 NASDAQ:EXC traded up $0.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $45.21. 4,695,220 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,239,084. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $45.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.45. The company has a market cap of $45.64 billion, a PE ratio of 18.45, a P/E/G 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.06. The business 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%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Exelon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.54%. Exelon's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Exelon from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Exelon from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Exelon from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Exelon from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Exelon has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $48.22.

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.