PFG Investments LLC Takes Position in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

PFG Investments LLC bought a new stake in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 12,476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $469,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Exelon during the 4th quarter worth about $382,015,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its holdings in shares of Exelon by 507.9% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 3,161,879 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,505,000 after purchasing an additional 2,641,756 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Exelon by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 93,146,101 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,343,945,000 after purchasing an additional 2,352,547 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Exelon by 501.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,290,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,571,000 after purchasing an additional 1,909,731 shares during the period. Finally, Maple Brown Abbott Ltd bought a new position in shares of Exelon during the 3rd quarter worth about $64,377,000. 80.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Exelon Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EXC traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $37.58. 6,199,518 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,549,888. Exelon Co. has a twelve month low of $33.35 and a twelve month high of $43.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.54. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.02. Exelon had a net margin of 10.72% and a return on equity of 9.40%. The business had revenue of $5.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.87 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.43 earnings per share. Exelon’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Exelon Co. will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a $0.38 dividend. This is a positive change from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EXC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho upgraded shares of Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Exelon from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Exelon from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $47.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Exelon from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Exelon from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.92.

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.