Aquila Investment Management LLC Buys New Stake in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Aquila Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 11,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $446,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Exelon by 16.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,310,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,956,525,000 after acquiring an additional 14,749,899 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in Exelon by 10.5% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,645,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,830,000 after buying an additional 156,201 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of Exelon by 8.8% during the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 190,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,594,000 after purchasing an additional 15,389 shares in the last quarter. Sciencast Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Exelon during the first quarter worth about $1,461,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exelon during the first quarter worth about $681,000. 80.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on EXC. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Exelon from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Exelon from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Exelon from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Exelon from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.33.

Exelon Price Performance

NASDAQ:EXC opened at $40.53 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $40.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The company’s 50-day moving average is $39.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.57. Exelon Co. has a 12-month low of $33.35 and a 12-month high of $41.48.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $5.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.98 billion. Exelon had a net margin of 10.65% and a return on equity of 9.40%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. Research analysts expect that Exelon Co. will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Exelon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.75%. Exelon’s payout ratio is currently 62.55%.

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.