Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) Shares Acquired by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 2.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 253,792 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,213 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Exelon were worth $10,276,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXC. FMR LLC increased its position in Exelon by 18.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,782,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $477,782,000 after buying an additional 1,858,502 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Exelon by 1.8% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,967,343 shares of the company’s stock worth $363,626,000 after acquiring an additional 160,313 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Exelon by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,446,408 shares of the company’s stock worth $261,402,000 after acquiring an additional 123,466 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Exelon by 666.2% in the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 3,583,477 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,024,000 after purchasing an additional 3,115,763 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in Exelon by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,438,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,710,000 after purchasing an additional 15,620 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on EXC shares. Scotiabank raised their target price on Exelon from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Exelon from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Exelon from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Exelon in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $46.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Exelon currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.25.

Exelon Price Performance

Exelon stock opened at $37.85 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $38.03 billion, a PE ratio of 15.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.54. Exelon Co. has a one year low of $33.35 and a one year high of $41.42.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.04. Exelon had a return on equity of 9.47% and a net margin of 10.60%. The company had revenue of $6.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.85 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.67 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Exelon Co. will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Exelon’s payout ratio is 62.55%.

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.