Exelon Corporation (NASDAQ:EXC) Shares Sold by Heartland Advisors Inc.

Key Points

• Heartland Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Exelon Corporation by 36% during the first quarter, owning 191,428 shares valued at $8.82 million after selling 107,877 shares.
• Exelon reported earnings per share of $0.92 for the latest quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $0.86, with revenue increasing by 11.1% year-over-year to $6.71 billion.
• The company declared a $0.40 quarterly dividend, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 3.64%, with a payout ratio of 59.48%.

Heartland Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in Exelon Corporation (NASDAQ:EXC - Free Report) by 36.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 191,428 shares of the company's stock after selling 107,877 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Exelon were worth $8,821,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of EXC. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Exelon by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 543,158 shares of the company's stock worth $20,445,000 after buying an additional 80,268 shares in the last quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE acquired a new position in shares of Exelon during the fourth quarter worth $250,000. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Exelon by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 11,796 shares of the company's stock worth $444,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP increased its position in shares of Exelon by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 822,958 shares of the company's stock worth $30,976,000 after purchasing an additional 118,252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Exelon by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,647,562 shares of the company's stock worth $62,690,000 after purchasing an additional 122,160 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.92% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EXC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Guggenheim upped their price target on Exelon from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp reduced their price target on Exelon from $39.00 to $37.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Exelon from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Exelon from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Exelon from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Exelon currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $47.20.

Exelon Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EXC traded up $0.21 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $44.51. 1,419,052 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,403,062. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $43.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.46. The stock has a market cap of $44.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.54, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.39. Exelon Corporation has a 12-month low of $35.94 and a 12-month high of $48.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $6.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.30 billion. Exelon had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 11.44%. The company's revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Exelon Corporation will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%. Exelon's payout ratio is currently 59.48%.

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.