Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Acquires 7,483,873 Shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC - Free Report) by 37.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,618,055 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,483,873 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 2.75% of Exelon worth $1,039,545,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Exelon in the fourth quarter worth $479,597,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Exelon by 46.9% in the fourth 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 last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Exelon by 109.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,884,282 shares of the company's stock worth $238,608,000 after acquiring an additional 3,068,309 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Exelon by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 127,335,351 shares of the company's stock worth $4,792,903,000 after acquiring an additional 3,064,673 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Exelon by 25.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,718,745 shares of the company's stock worth $516,374,000 after acquiring an additional 2,817,174 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.92% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on EXC shares. Scotiabank increased their target price on Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Exelon from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Exelon from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays increased their price objective on Exelon from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Guggenheim set a $47.00 price objective on Exelon and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with 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 $46.67.

Insider Transactions at Exelon

In related news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of Exelon stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.57, for a total transaction of $59,353.91. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 2,271 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $92,134.47. This trade represents a 39.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Exelon Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EXC traded up $0.19 on Tuesday, hitting $46.67. The stock had a trading volume of 1,477,040 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,249,058. The stock has a market cap of $47.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $44.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.10. Exelon Co. has a 52-week low of $34.01 and a 52-week high of $48.11.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. Exelon had a return on equity of 9.52% and a net margin of 10.68%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.43%. This is an increase from Exelon's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Exelon's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.31%.

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.