Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the ten research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $47.40.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on EXC shares. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Exelon from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $39.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Exelon from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exelon

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Exelon in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. increased its position in shares of Exelon by 46.4% in the first quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 694 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd purchased a new stake in Exelon in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Exelon during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Stephens Consulting LLC lifted its position in Exelon by 78.1% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. 80.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Exelon Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EXC opened at $43.46 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.40. The company’s 50-day moving average is $45.21 and its 200 day moving average is $42.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.87. Exelon has a fifty-two week low of $34.01 and a fifty-two week high of $48.11.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.06. Exelon had a return on equity of 9.52% and a net margin of 10.68%. The business had revenue of $6.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. Exelon’s revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Exelon will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Exelon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. Exelon’s payout ratio is 59.48%.

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.