Guggenheim Capital LLC Has $15.99 Million Stock Position in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Guggenheim Capital LLC cut its stake in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 18.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 424,910 shares of the company’s stock after selling 97,120 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC’s holdings in Exelon were worth $15,994,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Exelon by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 127,335,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,792,903,000 after purchasing an additional 3,064,673 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Exelon by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,314,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $988,080,000 after buying an additional 368,505 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Exelon by 46.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 17,306,652 shares of the company’s stock valued at $651,422,000 after buying an additional 5,524,103 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 2,817,174 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Exelon in the 4th quarter worth about $479,597,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Exelon Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ:EXC opened at $46.74 on Wednesday. Exelon Co. has a one year low of $34.01 and a one year high of $48.11. The company has a market cap of $47.19 billion, a PE ratio of 19.08, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $44.04 and a 200-day moving average of $40.68.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share 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 period last year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. This is an increase from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.31%.

Insider Activity at Exelon

In other news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.57, for a total value of $59,353.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,271 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,134.47. This represents a 39.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays upped their target price on Exelon from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective (up previously from $46.00) on shares of Exelon in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Exelon from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelon in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Exelon has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.63.

Exelon 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.