Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Grows Holdings in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC - Free Report) by 73.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 101,625 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 43,024 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC's holdings in Exelon were worth $3,825,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of EXC. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Exelon during the 4th quarter worth approximately $479,597,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Exelon by 46.9% during 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 in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Exelon by 109.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,884,282 shares of the company's stock valued at $238,608,000 after purchasing an additional 3,068,309 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Exelon by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 127,335,351 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,792,903,000 after purchasing an additional 3,064,673 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Exelon by 25.8% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,718,745 shares of the company's stock worth $516,374,000 after purchasing an additional 2,817,174 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.92% of the company's stock.

Exelon Price Performance

NASDAQ EXC traded down $0.11 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $46.22. 6,269,631 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,264,982. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm's 50-day moving average is $44.73 and its 200-day moving average is $41.03. Exelon Co. has a 52-week low of $34.01 and a 52-week high of $48.11. The company has a market capitalization of $46.66 billion, a PE ratio of 18.87, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.39.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a boost from Exelon's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. Exelon's payout ratio is presently 65.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on EXC shares. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Evercore ISI reissued an "in-line" rating and set a $48.00 target price (up previously from $46.00) on shares of Exelon in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Exelon in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $45.78.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Exelon news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 2,271 shares of the company's stock, valued at $92,134.47. This trade represents a 39.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.