Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $44.26 and last traded at $44.06, with a volume of 11507104 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $44.04.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Exelon from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI upgraded Exelon from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $43.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Scotiabank increased their target price on Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Guggenheim upgraded Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelon in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.13.

Exelon Stock Up 0.0 %

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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $39.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.23. The company has a market cap of $44.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.56.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 24th. This is a positive change from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of Exelon 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,271 shares in the company, valued at approximately $92,134.47. This trade represents a 39.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Exelon

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of Exelon by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 217,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,201,000 after buying an additional 14,158 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in Exelon by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,624,805 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,158,000 after purchasing an additional 279,827 shares during the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Exelon by 431.3% during the third quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 395,840 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,051,000 after purchasing an additional 321,333 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Exelon by 2.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,446,408 shares of the company’s stock worth $261,402,000 after purchasing an additional 123,466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in Exelon by 3.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,169,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,439,862,000 after purchasing an additional 2,156,259 shares during the last quarter. 80.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.