Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) in a research note released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $46.00 price objective on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Barclays increased their price target on Exelon from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Exelon from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Scotiabank raised their price target on Exelon from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Exelon from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $40.83.

Exelon Price Performance

Shares of EXC opened at $40.27 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.03. Exelon has a one year low of $33.35 and a one year high of $41.48. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $37.83 and its 200-day moving average is $37.06.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.07. Exelon had a return on equity of 9.40% and a net margin of 10.65%. The business had revenue of $5.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.98 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.41 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Exelon will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Exelon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. Exelon’s payout ratio is 65.52%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exelon

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Exelon by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,018,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,570,000 after acquiring an additional 23,270 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Exelon by 16.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,310,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,956,525,000 after acquiring an additional 14,749,899 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Exelon by 10.5% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,645,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,830,000 after acquiring an additional 156,201 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Exelon by 8.8% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 190,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,594,000 after acquiring an additional 15,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sciencast Management LP bought a new position in shares of Exelon during the first quarter worth about $1,461,000. 80.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.