Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Has $35.34 Million Stake in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its stake in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC - Free Report) by 35.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 938,832 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 246,200 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned 0.09% of Exelon worth $35,338,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of EXC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 buying an additional 3,064,673 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Exelon by 37.2% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 27,618,055 shares of the company's stock worth $1,039,545,000 after acquiring an additional 7,483,873 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Exelon by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,314,296 shares of the company's stock worth $988,080,000 after purchasing an additional 368,505 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Exelon by 46.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 17,306,652 shares of the company's stock valued at $651,422,000 after purchasing an additional 5,524,103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Exelon by 25.8% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,718,745 shares of the company's stock valued at $516,374,000 after purchasing an additional 2,817,174 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.92% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EXC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Guggenheim set a $47.00 price objective on Exelon and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Exelon from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Exelon presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $46.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of Exelon 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 2,271 shares in the company, valued at approximately $92,134.47. The trade was a 39.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Exelon Stock Up 0.6 %

Exelon stock traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $46.48. 7,142,410 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,271,793. Exelon Co. has a 1-year low of $34.01 and a 1-year high of $48.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $44.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. The stock has a market cap of $46.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.39.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (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 in the prior year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.44%. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.31%.

About Exelon

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.