Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) Stock Price Down 0.9% – What’s Next?

Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)’s share price traded down 0.9% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $42.85 and last traded at $44.10. 12,771,666 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 81% from the average session volume of 7,074,847 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.49.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EXC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Guggenheim upgraded Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelon in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Exelon currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.13.

Exelon Stock Down 0.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $44.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.08, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.46.

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

Exelon Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This is a positive change from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.31%.

Insider Activity

In other Exelon news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of Exelon stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.57, for a total value of $59,353.91. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 2,271 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $92,134.47. The trade was a 39.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exelon

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Exelon by 51.2% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 75,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,072,000 after purchasing an additional 25,656 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in Exelon by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 120,169 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,873,000 after buying an additional 2,827 shares during the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Exelon by 110.9% during the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 59,755 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,423,000 after buying an additional 31,415 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of Exelon in the 3rd quarter valued at about $204,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Exelon by 13.0% in the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 9,118 shares of the company’s stock valued at $370,000 after acquiring an additional 1,051 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

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.