Evercore ISI Upgrades Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) to "Outperform"

Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC - Free Report) from an in-line rating to an outperform rating in a research report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $44.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $43.00.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on EXC. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Exelon from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Exelon from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Exelon from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $43.38.

Exelon Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of EXC stock traded up $1.02 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $40.44. The company had a trading volume of 5,609,504 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,818,125. Exelon has a fifty-two week low of $33.35 and a fifty-two week high of $41.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company's fifty day moving average is $38.03 and its 200 day moving average is $38.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.64 billion, a PE ratio of 16.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.55.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $6.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.85 billion. Exelon had a return on equity of 9.47% and a net margin of 10.60%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.67 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Exelon will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Exelon's payout ratio is 62.55%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exelon

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Exelon by 3.7% during the third 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. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Exelon by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,945,791 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,048,823,000 after purchasing an additional 403,542 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Exelon by 18.7% in 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. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Exelon by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,967,343 shares of the company's stock worth $363,626,000 after acquiring an additional 160,313 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Exelon by 2.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,446,408 shares of the company's stock valued at $261,402,000 after acquiring an additional 123,466 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.92% 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.