Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) Shares Sold by Aviva PLC

Aviva PLC decreased its position in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,378,103 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,921 shares during the period. Aviva PLC owned about 0.14% of Exelon worth $51,872,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of EXC. Czech National Bank grew its position in shares of Exelon by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 217,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,201,000 after purchasing an additional 14,158 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in Exelon by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,624,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,158,000 after buying an additional 279,827 shares in the last quarter. Greenup Street Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Exelon in the 4th quarter worth about $2,274,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its stake in Exelon by 110.9% during the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 59,755 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,423,000 after buying an additional 31,415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Exelon by 3.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,159,783 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,029,000 after acquiring an additional 36,734 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exelon

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

Exelon Stock Performance

Exelon stock opened at $45.35 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $45.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.35. Exelon Co. has a 1-year low of $34.01 and a 1-year high of $48.11.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. Exelon had a return on equity of 9.52% and a net margin of 10.68%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This is a positive change from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on EXC shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on Exelon from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim raised shares of Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelon in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Exelon from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.13.

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.