Whittier Trust Co. Reduces Stake in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Whittier Trust Co. trimmed its position in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 38.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,554 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,621 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Exelon were worth $96,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Exelon by 109.0% during the 3rd 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. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Exelon by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 6,174,458 shares of the company’s stock worth $235,390,000 after purchasing an additional 2,160,201 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Exelon by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,169,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,439,862,000 after buying an additional 2,156,259 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Exelon by 418.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,501,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,152,000 after acquiring an additional 2,018,604 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Exelon by 18.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,782,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $477,782,000 after buying an additional 1,858,502 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Exelon

In related news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.57, for a total value 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Exelon Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EXC opened at $43.58 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $42.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.00. 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 stock has a market cap of $44.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.79, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.51. Exelon Co. has a 1-year low of $34.01 and a 1-year high of $45.20.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors 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 3.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This is a positive change from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Exelon’s payout ratio is 65.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on EXC. Barclays boosted their target price on Exelon from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Exelon from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised 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. Evercore ISI raised shares of Exelon from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Guggenheim raised Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.13.

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.