Cohen & Steers Inc. Has $108.75 Million Stock Position in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Cohen & Steers Inc. trimmed its holdings in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC - Free Report) by 20.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,889,170 shares of the company's stock after selling 759,759 shares during the quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. owned 0.29% of Exelon worth $108,748,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Exelon by 2.5% during the 4th 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Exelon by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,314,296 shares of the company's stock valued at $988,080,000 after acquiring an additional 368,505 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Exelon by 46.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 17,306,652 shares of the company's stock worth $651,422,000 after acquiring an additional 5,524,103 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Exelon by 25.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,718,745 shares of the company's stock worth $516,374,000 after purchasing an additional 2,817,174 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Exelon in the fourth quarter valued at $479,597,000. Institutional investors own 80.92% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on EXC. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Exelon from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim raised shares of Exelon from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Exelon in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Exelon from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $45.63.

Exelon Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EXC traded up $0.75 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $47.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,496,103 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,228,455. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $44.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Exelon Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.01 and a fifty-two week high of $48.11. The company has a market capitalization of $47.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.39.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.39%. This is an increase from Exelon's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Exelon's payout ratio is presently 65.31%.

Insider Activity

In other Exelon news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.57, for a total value of $59,353.91. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,271 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $92,134.47. This trade represents a 39.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.