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

Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in 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. Currently, 1.7% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 6,580,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Exelon Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EXC traded up $0.30 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $36.52. 7,371,498 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,682,092. 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 firm has a market cap of $36.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.02, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.54. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.87. Exelon has a twelve month low of $33.35 and a twelve month high of $41.19.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.15 billion for 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 revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.67 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Exelon will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exelon Dividend Announcement

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exelon

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EXC. American National Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of Exelon by 178.8% during the 3rd quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 697 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 447 shares during the period. Abound Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Exelon by 502.7% during the second quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 744 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exelon in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Exelon during the second quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in shares of Exelon during the second quarter worth about $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

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.