Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 36,734 Shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,159,783 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,734 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Exelon were worth $47,029,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in Exelon by 3.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,169,219 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,439,862,000 after buying an additional 2,156,259 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Exelon by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,945,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,048,823,000 after acquiring an additional 403,542 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Exelon by 18.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,782,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $477,782,000 after purchasing an additional 1,858,502 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Exelon by 1.8% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,967,343 shares of the company’s stock valued at $363,626,000 after purchasing an additional 160,313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Exelon by 2.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,446,408 shares of the company’s stock valued at $261,402,000 after purchasing an additional 123,466 shares during the last quarter. 80.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EXC has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on Exelon from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Exelon from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Exelon from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays increased their price objective on Exelon from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Exelon in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $46.00 target price on the stock. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.00.

Exelon Stock Performance

EXC stock opened at $37.02 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $37.20 billion, a PE ratio of 15.23, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 price of $38.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.85. Exelon Co. has a 1-year low of $33.35 and a 1-year high of $41.19.

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

Exelon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.55%.

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.