International Assets Investment Management LLC Increases Holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 2,647.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 155,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 149,442 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $4,203,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of PPL by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 16,020 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $445,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of PPL by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 46,833 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,103,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA grew its stake in shares of PPL by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 58,322 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,374,000 after acquiring an additional 425 shares during the period. Kinneret Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of PPL by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC now owns 19,608 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $564,000 after acquiring an additional 438 shares during the period. Finally, SlateStone Wealth LLC boosted its stake in PPL by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 10,661 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $251,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on PPL shares. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of PPL in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. Barclays raised their target price on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Argus upgraded PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, March 8th. 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 report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, PPL currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.50.

PPL Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE PPL opened at $26.01 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.11. PPL Co. has a 12 month low of $22.20 and a 12 month high of $29.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.18 billion, a PE ratio of 26.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.81.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.02. PPL had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 8.45%. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.28 earnings per share. PPL’s revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is a boost from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. PPL’s payout ratio is 103.00%.

PPL Profile

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.