Federated Hermes Inc. Buys 7,242 Shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 30.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 31,183 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 7,242 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Exelon were worth $1,174,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Exelon during the 4th quarter worth about $479,597,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Exelon by 109.0% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Exelon by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 127,335,351 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,792,903,000 after purchasing an additional 3,064,673 shares during the period. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Exelon by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 6,174,458 shares of the company’s stock worth $235,390,000 after buying an additional 2,160,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Exelon by 418.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,501,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,152,000 after buying an additional 2,018,604 shares during the period. 80.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EXC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded Exelon from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $43.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Guggenheim raised shares of Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Exelon has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.13.

Insider Transactions at Exelon

In related news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of Exelon 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,271 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,134.47. The trade was a 39.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Exelon Stock Performance

Shares of Exelon stock opened at $46.86 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.64. Exelon Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.01 and a fifty-two week high of $48.11. 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 market cap of $47.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.39.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 prior year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date 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%.

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.