Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) Shares Acquired by Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 16.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 471,014 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 66,676 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Exelon were worth $16,909,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in EXC. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Exelon by 85.7% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 192,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,895,000 after purchasing an additional 88,614 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Exelon by 24.4% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 464,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,660,000 after purchasing an additional 91,088 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Exelon by 12.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,069,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $380,538,000 after buying an additional 1,092,736 shares during the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP bought a new stake in Exelon in the third quarter valued at $1,418,000. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Exelon in the fourth quarter valued at $5,001,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on EXC shares. Mizuho upgraded shares of Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Exelon from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. UBS Group cut shares of Exelon from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Barclays lifted their target price on Exelon from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered Exelon from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.09.

Exelon Trading Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ:EXC opened at $36.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Exelon Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.35 and a fifty-two week high of $43.71. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $36.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.10. The stock has a market cap of $36.66 billion, a PE ratio of 15.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.54.

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

Exelon Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.14%. This is a positive change from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. Exelon’s payout ratio is currently 65.24%.

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.