Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) Raised to “Buy” at Guggenheim

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) was upgraded by Guggenheim from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Finviz reports.

EXC has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Exelon from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Exelon from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Exelon from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $44.00 in a report on Tuesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.13.

Exelon Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EXC opened at $39.22 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $38.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.32. Exelon has a twelve month low of $33.35 and a twelve month high of $41.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.41 billion, a PE ratio of 16.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.55.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.85 billion. Exelon had a net margin of 10.60% and a return on equity of 9.47%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.67 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Exelon will post 2.46 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EXC. Smith Group Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Exelon in the fourth quarter worth $414,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in Exelon by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,624,805 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,158,000 after buying an additional 279,827 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Exelon in the fourth quarter worth $151,000. Perigon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Exelon by 42.7% in the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,782 shares of the company’s stock worth $582,000 after buying an additional 4,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenup Street Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Exelon in the fourth quarter worth $2,274,000. 80.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.