705,677 Shares in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) Bought by OFI Invest Asset Management

OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 705,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,651,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its holdings in Exelon by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 2,457 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc. increased its holdings in Exelon by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 9,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $375,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC lifted its stake in Exelon by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 13,151 shares of the company’s stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its holdings in shares of Exelon by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 18,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $697,000 after buying an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Exelon by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 11,085 shares of the company’s stock valued at $450,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on EXC. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelon in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays lifted their price target on Exelon from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Guggenheim raised Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI raised Exelon from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.13.

Exelon Stock Performance

Shares of EXC stock opened at $43.11 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.54. 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 company has a market capitalization of $43.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.51. Exelon Co. has a 1-year low of $34.01 and a 1-year high of $45.19.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 last year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This is a boost from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio is 65.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.