Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 50,023 Shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Clearbridge Investments LLC reduced its stake in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 3.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,595,714 shares of the company’s stock after selling 50,023 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned about 0.16% of Exelon worth $55,228,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of EXC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Exelon by 16.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,310,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,956,525,000 after buying an additional 14,749,899 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Exelon by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 93,146,101 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,343,945,000 after acquiring an additional 2,352,547 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Exelon by 112.4% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 31,527,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,184,483,000 after purchasing an additional 16,686,526 shares during the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Exelon by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 9,711,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $348,639,000 after purchasing an additional 274,967 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Exelon by 2.4% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 4,887,035 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,606,000 after purchasing an additional 113,428 shares in the last quarter. 80.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Exelon Stock Up 0.4 %

Exelon stock opened at $40.95 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.53. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.25. Exelon Co. has a 1-year low of $33.35 and a 1-year high of $41.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.07. Exelon had a return on equity of 9.40% and a net margin of 10.65%. The company had revenue of $5.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.41 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Exelon Co. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Exelon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Exelon in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $46.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Exelon from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Exelon from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Exelon from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target 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. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.08.

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.