Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Increases Stock Position in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 212.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,903,482 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,293,753 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Exelon were worth $71,647,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Exelon by 109.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,884,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $238,608,000 after purchasing an additional 3,068,309 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,156,259 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Exelon by 418.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,501,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,152,000 after buying an additional 2,018,604 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Exelon by 18.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,782,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $477,782,000 after buying an additional 1,858,502 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Exelon by 4,103.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,046,630 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,441,000 after acquiring an additional 1,021,731 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on EXC shares. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Exelon in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $46.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Exelon from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Exelon from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Exelon from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.38.

Exelon Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EXC opened at $38.02 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $38.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.55. Exelon Co. has a 52-week low of $33.35 and a 52-week high of $41.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.09. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $37.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.15.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Exelon Co. will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.