HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Lowers Holdings in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 80,612 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,198 shares during the quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Exelon were worth $3,034,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in Exelon during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Stephens Consulting LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Exelon by 78.1% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Exelon during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Exelon in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in Exelon by 119.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. 80.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelon in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Exelon from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $43.00 to $44.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Guggenheim raised Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.13.

Exelon Stock Up 3.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ EXC opened at $46.08 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $46.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.81, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.51. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.19. Exelon Co. has a 1 year low of $34.01 and a 1 year high of $46.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a positive change from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. 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 3.47%. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exelon

In other Exelon news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was 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 trade represents a 39.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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.