Finward Bancorp Purchases Shares of 9,651 Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Finward Bancorp bought a new position in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 9,651 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $363,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Exelon by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 127,335,351 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,792,903,000 after buying an additional 3,064,673 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Exelon by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,314,296 shares of the company's stock worth $988,080,000 after acquiring an additional 368,505 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Exelon by 46.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 17,306,652 shares of the company's stock worth $651,422,000 after purchasing an additional 5,524,103 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Exelon by 25.8% during the fourth 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. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Exelon in the fourth quarter worth about $479,597,000. 80.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on EXC. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Exelon from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays raised their target price on Exelon from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Exelon in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Guggenheim raised shares of Exelon from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $45.63.

Exelon Stock Up 1.6 %

EXC stock traded up $0.75 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $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 company has a market capitalization of $47.71 billion, a PE ratio of 19.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.39. Exelon Co. has a 12 month low of $34.01 and a 12 month high of $48.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $44.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 return on equity of 9.52% and a net margin of 10.68%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were given a $0.40 dividend. This is a positive change from Exelon's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. 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%. Exelon's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.31%.

Insider Transactions at Exelon

In related news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.57, for a total transaction of $59,353.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,271 shares in the company, valued at $92,134.47. This represents a 39.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.