Synovus Financial Corp Reduces Position in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Synovus Financial Corp reduced its stake in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC - Free Report) by 47.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,810 shares of the company's stock after selling 8,839 shares during the quarter. Synovus Financial Corp's holdings in Exelon were worth $369,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Exelon during the fourth quarter worth $479,597,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in Exelon by 46.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 17,306,652 shares of the company's stock worth $651,422,000 after buying an additional 5,524,103 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Exelon by 109.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,884,282 shares of the company's stock worth $238,608,000 after buying an additional 3,068,309 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Exelon by 2.5% in the 4th 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 period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Exelon by 25.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,718,745 shares of the company's stock valued at $516,374,000 after acquiring an additional 2,817,174 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.92% of the company's stock.

Exelon Stock Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ EXC opened at $47.26 on Friday. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.01 and a fifty-two week high of $48.11. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $44.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.77. The stock has a market cap of $47.71 billion, a PE 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, beating 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.39%. This is an increase from Exelon's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Exelon's dividend payout ratio is currently 65.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exelon

In other Exelon news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of the 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 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EXC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of 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 reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Exelon in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Guggenheim raised Exelon from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Exelon from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $45.63.

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.

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