Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) Given New $37.00 Price Target at Scotiabank

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) had its price target reduced by Scotiabank from $39.00 to $37.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. Scotiabank currently has a sector perform rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Exelon from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Exelon from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Exelon from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Exelon from $38.00 to $36.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, TheStreet lowered shares of Exelon from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $38.92.

Exelon Stock Performance

Shares of EXC stock opened at $37.67 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $36.49 and a 200 day moving average of $37.11. Exelon has a 1 year low of $33.35 and a 1 year high of $43.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.54.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $3.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Exelon will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. This is a positive change from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.04%. Exelon’s payout ratio is currently 65.24%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exelon

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Exelon by 85.7% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 192,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,895,000 after buying an additional 88,614 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Exelon by 24.4% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 464,064 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,660,000 after purchasing an additional 91,088 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Exelon by 12.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,069,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,538,000 after purchasing an additional 1,092,736 shares during the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP purchased a new position in Exelon during the third quarter worth about $1,418,000. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Exelon in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,001,000. 80.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.