Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Acquires 170,941 Shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) by 118.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 315,298 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 170,941 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Exelon were worth $11,319,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EXC. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of Exelon by 6.1% during the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 10,380 shares of the company’s stock valued at $392,000 after acquiring an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Exelon in the third quarter worth approximately $200,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Exelon by 15.0% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $341,000 after purchasing an additional 1,176 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA boosted its holdings in Exelon by 33.9% in the third quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 7,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Exelon by 3.9% in the third quarter. B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC now owns 99,864 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,774,000 after purchasing an additional 3,776 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on EXC shares. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Exelon from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. TheStreet cut shares of Exelon from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Exelon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $39.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Exelon from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Exelon from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.92.

Exelon Price Performance

NASDAQ EXC traded up $0.07 on Tuesday, reaching $37.74. The company had a trading volume of 2,069,133 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,615,324. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.72 billion, a PE ratio of 16.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.54. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $36.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.11. Exelon Co. has a 12 month low of $33.35 and a 12 month high of $43.71.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $5.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.87 billion. Exelon had a net margin of 10.72% and a return on equity of 9.40%. Exelon’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Exelon Co. will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Exelon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. This is an increase from Exelon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.03%. Exelon’s payout ratio is 65.24%.

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.