Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $54.03 Million Position in Exelon Corporation (NASDAQ:EXC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Exelon Corporation (NASDAQ:EXC - Free Report) by 2.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,172,545 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 28,453 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Exelon worth $54,031,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Exelon by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 127,335,351 shares of the company's stock worth $4,792,903,000 after purchasing an additional 3,064,673 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $1,039,545,000 after purchasing an additional 7,483,873 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Exelon by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,314,296 shares of the company's stock worth $988,080,000 after purchasing an additional 368,505 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Exelon by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 24,662,037 shares of the company's stock valued at $928,277,000 after buying an additional 653,627 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in Exelon by 46.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 17,306,652 shares of the company's stock worth $651,422,000 after acquiring an additional 5,524,103 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.92% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on EXC. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $48.00 price objective (up previously from $46.00) on shares of Exelon in a report on Monday, June 2nd. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Exelon from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $39.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Exelon from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $47.40.

Exelon Trading Up 1.1%

NASDAQ:EXC traded up $0.49 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $43.63. The stock had a trading volume of 4,368,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,095,455. The business's 50 day moving average is $43.58 and its 200-day moving average is $42.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.09. Exelon Corporation has a one year low of $34.34 and a one year high of $48.11. The company has a market cap of $44.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.39.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.06. Exelon had a net margin of 11.44% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The company had revenue of $6.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Exelon Corporation will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.67%. Exelon's payout ratio is 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.