Hsbc Holdings PLC Purchases 1,136,954 Shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 25.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,573,740 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,136,954 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Exelon were worth $209,748,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Exelon during the 4th quarter valued at $479,597,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Exelon by 46.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 17,306,652 shares of the company’s stock valued at $651,422,000 after buying an additional 5,524,103 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Exelon by 109.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,884,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $238,608,000 after buying an additional 3,068,309 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Exelon by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 127,335,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,792,903,000 after buying an additional 3,064,673 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Exelon by 25.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,718,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $516,374,000 after acquiring an additional 2,817,174 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Exelon Trading Down 2.2 %

NASDAQ EXC opened at $46.23 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. Exelon Co. has a 12 month low of $34.01 and a 12 month high of $48.11. The company has a market capitalization of $46.67 billion, a PE ratio of 18.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.85.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. Exelon had a net margin of 10.68% and a return on equity of 9.52%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This is a positive change from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. Exelon’s payout ratio is 65.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of Exelon 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 2,271 shares in the company, valued at $92,134.47. The trade was a 39.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on EXC. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $48.00 target price (up from $46.00) on shares of Exelon in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Guggenheim raised Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelon in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Exelon from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.63.

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.