Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Sells 6,292 Shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 13.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 39,500 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,292 shares during the period. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Exelon were worth $1,418,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXC. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Exelon during the fourth quarter worth $413,260,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Exelon by 805.4% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 7,526,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $325,380,000 after buying an additional 6,695,474 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Exelon in the fourth quarter valued at $264,477,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Exelon by 5.6% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,018,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,597,969,000 after purchasing an additional 3,271,744 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its holdings in Exelon by 507.9% in the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 3,161,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,505,000 after purchasing an additional 2,641,756 shares during the period. 80.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on EXC. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Exelon from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Exelon from $45.00 to $38.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Mizuho upgraded Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $39.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Exelon from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, TheStreet downgraded Exelon from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.09.

Exelon Price Performance

EXC stock opened at $35.75 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.73 billion, a PE ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.54. The company’s 50-day moving average is $36.25 and its 200-day moving average is $37.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Exelon Co. has a 1 year low of $33.35 and a 1 year high of $43.71.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $5.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.87 billion. Exelon had a net margin of 10.72% and a return on equity of 9.40%. The business’s revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Exelon Co. will post 2.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. This is a boost from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio is 65.24%.

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.