Allworth Financial LP Purchases 667 Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 179.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 667 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP’s holdings in PPL were worth $28,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in PPL by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 60,166,843 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,672,037,000 after purchasing an additional 195,849 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in PPL by 4.8% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,759,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,229,596,000 after acquiring an additional 1,971,238 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in PPL by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,390,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $339,048,000 after acquiring an additional 1,695,726 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,884,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $367,969,000 after purchasing an additional 775,294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of PPL by 13,891.2% during the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,724,495 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $276,229,000 after purchasing an additional 11,640,696 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PPL Price Performance

NYSE PPL opened at $26.63 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $19.64 billion, a PE ratio of 26.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.81. PPL Co. has a 52-week low of $22.20 and a 52-week high of $29.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $26.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.07.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.02. PPL had a return on equity of 8.45% and a net margin of 8.90%. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.2575 dividend. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 103.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on PPL from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. TheStreet cut shares of PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Argus raised shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.50.

About PPL

PPL Corporation, an energy company, focuses on providing electricity and natural gas to approximately 3.6 million customers in the United States. It operates through three segments: Kentucky Regulated, Pennsylvania Regulated, and Rhode Island Regulated. The company delivers electricity to customers in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, and Rhode Island; delivers natural gas to customers in Kentucky and Rhode Island; and generates electricity from power plants in Kentucky.