Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) Stock Position Lessened by B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG trimmed its stake in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 175,483 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,312 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in Exelon were worth $6,605,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in Exelon by 37.7% during the fourth quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 126,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,752,000 after buying an additional 34,585 shares in the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Exelon by 710.5% during the 4th quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 68,983 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,597,000 after acquiring an additional 60,472 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Exelon by 37.5% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 70,051 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,637,000 after acquiring an additional 19,094 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of Exelon by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 16,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $623,000 after purchasing an additional 1,784 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Exelon by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 4,604,297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,306,000 after purchasing an additional 15,376 shares during the last quarter. 80.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Exelon Trading Up 3.1 %

NASDAQ EXC opened at $46.08 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. Exelon Co. has a 1-year low of $34.01 and a 1-year high of $46.22. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.19. The company has a market capitalization of $46.52 billion, a PE ratio of 18.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.51.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share 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 last year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.47%. This is an increase from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. Exelon’s payout ratio is currently 65.31%.

Insider Transactions at Exelon

In other news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $92,134.47. This represents a 39.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on EXC. Barclays boosted their price objective on Exelon from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of 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 reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelon in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Evercore ISI raised Exelon from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.13.

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.