Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Sells 422,932 Shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lowered its position in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,708,628 shares of the company’s stock after selling 422,932 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned about 0.77% of Exelon worth $290,153,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Exelon in the 4th quarter valued at $479,597,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Exelon by 109.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,884,282 shares of the company’s stock worth $238,608,000 after purchasing an additional 3,068,309 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Exelon by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 127,335,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,792,903,000 after purchasing an additional 3,064,673 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in Exelon by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 6,174,458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $235,390,000 after buying an additional 2,160,201 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Exelon by 3.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,169,219 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,439,862,000 after buying an additional 2,156,259 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Exelon

In related news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of Exelon stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.57, for a total transaction of $59,353.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,271 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,134.47. This trade represents a 39.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on EXC. Evercore ISI raised Exelon from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $43.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays boosted their price objective on Exelon from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelon in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Exelon currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.13.

Exelon Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Exelon stock opened at $44.25 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. Exelon Co. has a 12-month low of $34.01 and a 12-month high of $45.20. The company has a market cap of $44.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.06, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.09.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. Exelon had a net margin of 10.68% and a return on equity of 9.52%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This is a boost from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.31%.

Exelon 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.