UPDATE: Wellington Shields Raises PT on Pepco Holdings Following Analyst Conference

In a report published Friday, Wellington Shields & Co. analyst Maurice E. May reiterated a Hold rating on Pepco Holdings

, and slightly raised the price target from $19.00 to $19.25. In the report, May noted, “Yesterday, the management of Pepco Holdings held its 2012 Analyst Conference in New York City. Representing POM were CEO Joe Rigby, EVP David Velasquez, CFO Fred Boyle, and VP/IR Donna Kinzel, among others. Management staying the course with its theme - Investing Today for a Brighter Tomorrow. POM's handout contains a page that demonstrated the company's serious need for rate relief – estimated 2012 ROEs on various 2012 rate bases ranged from 1.5% (at Atlantic City) to 7.0% (at Delmarva/MD). The return at Pepco/MD – the unit hard hit by storms and political pushback – was 5.2%. Management said that regulatory lag is penalizing POM's earnings by $(0.31)/shr on an annualized basis.” Pepco Holdings closed on Thursday at $20.84.