Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $41.88 and last traded at $41.80, with a volume of 7279012 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $41.31.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EXC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target 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 shares of Exelon from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays lowered their price objective on Exelon from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Scotiabank increased their price target on Exelon from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded shares of Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Exelon presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.13.

Exelon Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $38.52 and a 200-day moving average of $38.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market cap of $43.10 billion, a PE ratio of 17.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.56.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) 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 9.47% and a net margin of 10.60%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Exelon Co. will post 2.46 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Exelon

In other news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 2,271 shares in the company, valued at $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exelon

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Exelon by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 38,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,556,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares in the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exelon during the 3rd quarter valued at $230,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Exelon in the 3rd quarter worth about $366,000. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Exelon by 49.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 201,264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,161,000 after buying an additional 66,287 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Exelon by 3.0% in the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 20,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $849,000 after buying an additional 607 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

About Exelon

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.