Van ECK Associates Corp Has $11.77 Million Position in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC - Free Report) by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 288,934 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 30,639 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp's holdings in Exelon were worth $11,771,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Exelon by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,533 shares of the company's stock valued at $305,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Exelon by 1.0% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 28,392 shares of the company's stock worth $1,151,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Black Diamond Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Exelon by 2.0% during the second quarter. Black Diamond Financial LLC now owns 14,067 shares of the company's stock worth $487,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Exelon by 2.1% during the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 13,922 shares of the company's stock worth $565,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Exelon by 3.3% during the second quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,412 shares of the company's stock worth $326,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. 80.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on EXC. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Exelon from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Exelon in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $46.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Exelon from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Exelon from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $41.33.

Exelon Price Performance

NASDAQ:EXC traded down $0.15 on Wednesday, reaching $38.32. The stock had a trading volume of 8,624,728 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,782,431. The company has a market capitalization of $38.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.54. Exelon Co. has a 1-year low of $33.35 and a 1-year high of $41.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $39.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.75.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.04. Exelon had a net margin of 10.60% and a return on equity of 9.47%. The business had revenue of $6.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. Exelon's revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Exelon Co. will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Exelon Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Exelon's dividend payout ratio is currently 62.55%.

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.