Short Interest in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) Rises By 16.6%

Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 19,170,000 shares, a growth of 16.6% from the October 31st total of 16,440,000 shares. Currently, 1.9% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 6,660,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exelon

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Exelon by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,169,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,439,862,000 after acquiring an additional 2,156,259 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Exelon by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,945,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,048,823,000 after buying an additional 403,542 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Exelon by 18.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,782,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $477,782,000 after purchasing an additional 1,858,502 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Exelon by 1.8% in the 3rd 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 period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Exelon by 2.0% during the 3rd 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on EXC shares. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Exelon from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Exelon from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Exelon in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $46.00 price target on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on Exelon from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.25.

Exelon Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of EXC traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $38.14. 6,605,821 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,703,683. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.87. Exelon has a 52 week low of $33.35 and a 52 week high of $41.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.32 billion, a PE ratio of 15.70, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $6.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.67 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Exelon will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.99%. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.55%.

Exelon Company 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.