Wells Fargo & Company Raises Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) Price Target to $40.00

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) had its price objective boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $39.00 to $40.00 in a research note released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Exelon from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Exelon from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Barclays increased their price objective on Exelon from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Exelon from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Exelon from $38.00 to $36.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Exelon presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $38.83.

Exelon Price Performance

Shares of Exelon stock opened at $37.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Exelon has a one year low of $33.35 and a one year high of $43.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.53. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.98.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.02. Exelon had a net margin of 10.44% and a return on equity of 9.27%. The business had revenue of $5.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Exelon will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Exelon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.06%. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.52%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in EXC. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Exelon by 85.7% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 192,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,895,000 after acquiring an additional 88,614 shares in the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP increased its holdings in Exelon by 225.3% in the 4th quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 122,009 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,380,000 after acquiring an additional 84,498 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of Exelon by 24.4% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 464,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,660,000 after buying an additional 91,088 shares in the last quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Exelon during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,639,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Exelon by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,069,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $380,538,000 after buying an additional 1,092,736 shares in the last quarter. 80.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.