Investors Buy Large Volume of Exelon Call Options (NASDAQ:EXC)

Exelon Co. (NASDAQ:EXC) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders acquired 4,662 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 175% compared to the average daily volume of 1,695 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exelon

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Black Diamond Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Exelon by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Black Diamond Financial LLC now owns 14,067 shares of the company’s stock worth $487,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Exelon by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $326,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Exelon by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,727 shares of the company’s stock valued at $553,000 after buying an additional 310 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Exelon by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 9,381 shares of the company’s stock worth $325,000 after buying an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Exelon by 8.9% in the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 4,096 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.92% of the company’s stock.

Exelon Price Performance

Shares of Exelon stock opened at $40.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.03. Exelon has a 52-week low of $33.35 and a 52-week high of $41.48. The company has a fifty day moving average of $37.83 and a 200-day moving average of $37.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.53.

Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $5.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.98 billion. Exelon had a net margin of 10.65% and a return on equity of 9.40%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.41 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Exelon will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Exelon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Exelon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Exelon from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Exelon from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Exelon from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays increased their price objective on Exelon from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Exelon in a research report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $46.00 target price for the company. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.83.

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.