ING Groep NV Grows Position in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

ING Groep NV lifted its stake in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 2,081.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 372,814 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 355,721 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Exelon were worth $14,033,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp increased its position in Exelon by 3.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,169,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,439,862,000 after purchasing an additional 2,156,259 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Exelon by 1.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,945,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,048,823,000 after purchasing an additional 403,542 shares during the last quarter. 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 purchasing an additional 1,858,502 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Exelon by 1.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 160,313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Exelon by 2.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,446,408 shares of the company’s stock worth $261,402,000 after purchasing an additional 123,466 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Exelon

In related news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.57, for a total value of $59,353.91. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,271 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,134.47. This represents a 39.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on EXC. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Exelon from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Exelon from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.38.

Exelon Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ EXC opened at $43.17 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $39.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. The stock has a market cap of $43.40 billion, a PE ratio of 17.62, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.56. Exelon Co. has a 12 month low of $34.01 and a 12 month high of $43.45.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 previous year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 24th. This is a boost from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.04%.

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.