Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $46.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on EXC. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Exelon from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Exelon from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Exelon from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Exelon from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $40.83.

Exelon Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EXC opened at $40.27 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $37.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.06. The company has a market cap of $40.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.53. Exelon has a 12-month low of $33.35 and a 12-month high of $41.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.07. Exelon had a return on equity of 9.40% and a net margin of 10.65%. The firm 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 firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Exelon will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Exelon’s payout ratio is 65.52%.

Institutional Trading of Exelon

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Exelon by 112.4% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 31,527,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,184,483,000 after buying an additional 16,686,526 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Exelon by 16.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,310,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,956,525,000 after acquiring an additional 14,749,899 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in Exelon by 666.2% during the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 3,583,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,024,000 after acquiring an additional 3,115,763 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Exelon during the first quarter worth $96,859,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Exelon by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 93,146,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,343,945,000 after purchasing an additional 2,352,547 shares during the last quarter. 80.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.