Ameriprise Financial Inc. Reduces Position in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. reduced its position in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 12.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 782,894 shares of the company’s stock after selling 108,886 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc.’s holdings in Exelon were worth $29,467,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of EXC. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in Exelon during the 4th quarter worth approximately $489,000. AmeriServ Wealth Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Exelon in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $412,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Exelon by 39.2% during the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,366 shares of the company’s stock worth $541,000 after acquiring an additional 4,049 shares during the last quarter. AXA S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Exelon by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 1,245,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,868,000 after acquiring an additional 70,433 shares during the period. Finally, 4WEALTH Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Exelon in the 4th quarter valued at $202,000. 80.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on EXC. Barclays raised their price target on Exelon from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Exelon from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective 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. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Exelon from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.22.

Exelon Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EXC opened at $42.97 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $45.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.49. The company has a market cap of $43.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.54, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.43. 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 Co. has a one year low of $34.01 and a one year high of $48.11.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last announced its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $6.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.30 billion. Exelon had a return on equity of 9.52% and a net margin of 10.68%. The company’s revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. Exelon’s payout ratio is currently 59.48%.

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.