Graham Capital Management L.P. Buys 195,996 Shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Graham Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 492.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 235,760 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 195,996 shares during the quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Exelon were worth $8,874,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 worth $4,792,903,000 after purchasing an additional 3,064,673 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Exelon by 37.2% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 27,618,055 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,039,545,000 after buying an additional 7,483,873 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Exelon by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,314,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $988,080,000 after buying an additional 368,505 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 5,524,103 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in shares of Exelon by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 17,089,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $643,242,000 after acquiring an additional 1,706,184 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Exelon Stock Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:EXC opened at $45.21 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.44. Exelon Co. has a 52-week low of $34.01 and a 52-week high of $48.11. The company has a market cap of $45.64 billion, a PE ratio of 18.45, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $6.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.30 billion. Exelon had a net margin of 10.68% and a return on equity of 9.52%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.54%. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.48%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on EXC. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Exelon from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Exelon from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Exelon from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Exelon from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.22.

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.