Woodline Partners LP Makes New Investment in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Woodline Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 60,345 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,271,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in EXC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Exelon by 2.5% in 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 period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Exelon by 37.2% in 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Exelon by 1.4% in 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 period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted 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 worth $928,277,000 after purchasing an additional 653,627 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 5,524,103 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.92% of the company's stock.

Exelon Stock Down 0.4%

EXC stock traded down $0.16 on Friday, hitting $43.54. 1,579,447 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,290,787. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $45.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.88. The stock has a market cap of $43.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.43. 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 earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $6.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.30 billion. Exelon had a return on equity of 9.52% and a net margin of 10.68%. The company's revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.67%. Exelon's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.48%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on EXC. Barclays lifted their price target on Exelon from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on Exelon from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Exelon from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Exelon from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One investment 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.com, Exelon has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $47.30.

Exelon Company 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.