Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) Short Interest Down 10.9% in November

Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 17,080,000 shares, a decline of 10.9% from the November 15th total of 19,170,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 6,580,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of EXC. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Exelon by 5.8% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 116,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,037,000 after purchasing an additional 6,404 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Exelon by 20.1% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 29,783 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,031,000 after purchasing an additional 4,991 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Exelon by 29.9% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,883 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Exelon by 7.0% during the second quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 49,969 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,820,000 after purchasing an additional 3,283 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Exelon by 779.8% during the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 4,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $146,000 after purchasing an additional 3,743 shares during the last quarter. 80.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on EXC shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Exelon in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $46.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on Exelon from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Exelon from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on Exelon from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Exelon has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.55.

Exelon Stock Performance

Exelon stock traded up $0.30 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $36.52. 7,371,799 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,682,093. The firm has a market cap of $36.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.03, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $38.89 and a 200 day moving average of $37.86. Exelon has a 12 month low of $33.35 and a 12 month high of $41.19.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.04. Exelon had a return on equity of 9.47% and a net margin of 10.60%. The company had revenue of $6.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.67 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Exelon will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Exelon Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.16%. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.55%.

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.