Legal & General Group Plc Decreases Stake in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Legal & General Group Plc cut its stake in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 11.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,978,045 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,646,544 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 1.29% of Exelon worth $488,494,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in Exelon in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Stephens Consulting LLC boosted its holdings in Exelon by 78.1% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 782 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. acquired a new stake in Exelon during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Exelon during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in Exelon by 119.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. 80.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on EXC shares. Guggenheim raised Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Exelon from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Exelon from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $43.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelon in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Exelon from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Exelon presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.13.

Exelon Trading Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ:EXC opened at $44.69 on Tuesday. Exelon Co. has a 1 year low of $34.01 and a 1 year high of $48.11. The stock has a market cap of $45.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.40.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 last year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate 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 issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.58%. This is a boost from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.31%.

Insider Transactions at Exelon

In related news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of the 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 represents a 39.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.