Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 145,143 Shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Franklin Resources Inc. reduced its stake in Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,001,979 shares of the company’s stock after selling 145,143 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Exelon were worth $251,371,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Exelon in the fourth quarter valued at $382,015,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in Exelon by 507.9% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 3,161,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,505,000 after acquiring an additional 2,641,756 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in Exelon by 501.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,290,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,571,000 after acquiring an additional 1,909,731 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Exelon by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,069,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $380,538,000 after acquiring an additional 1,092,736 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its position in Exelon by 112.4% in the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,910,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,213,000 after acquiring an additional 1,011,224 shares in the last quarter. 80.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Exelon Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ:EXC traded down $0.23 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $38.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 958,134 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,563,033. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.90. Exelon Co. has a 1 year low of $33.35 and a 1 year high of $43.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.60, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.03.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.02. Exelon had a net margin of 10.44% and a return on equity of 9.27%. The firm had revenue of $5.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Exelon Co. will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on EXC. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Exelon from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Exelon from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Exelon from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Exelon from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, TheStreet downgraded shares of Exelon from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.83.

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.