California Public Employees Retirement System Has $173.31 Million Position in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,604,297 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,376 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Exelon were worth $173,306,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Exelon during the 4th quarter valued at $479,597,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Exelon by 109.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,884,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $238,608,000 after buying an additional 3,068,309 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Exelon by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 127,335,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,792,903,000 after buying an additional 3,064,673 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Exelon by 53.8% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 6,174,458 shares of the company’s stock worth $235,390,000 after acquiring an additional 2,160,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Exelon by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,169,219 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,439,862,000 after acquiring an additional 2,156,259 shares during the last quarter. 80.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on EXC. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Exelon from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Exelon from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Exelon from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelon in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Guggenheim raised Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exelon

In related news, EVP Colette D. Honorable sold 1,463 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $59,353.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Exelon Price Performance

Shares of EXC stock opened at $44.71 on Monday. Exelon Co. has a 12 month low of $34.01 and a 12 month high of $45.20. The company has a market capitalization of $45.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $42.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Exelon Co. will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a boost 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 3.58%. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.31%.

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.