Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 9.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 69,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,917 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $1,889,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in PPL by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Alliance raised its holdings in PPL by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 19,792 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $536,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC grew its position in PPL by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 23,142 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $627,000 after purchasing an additional 597 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in PPL in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,209,000. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in PPL in the 4th quarter worth approximately $261,000. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th. Argus raised shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded shares of PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PPL presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.50.

PPL Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of PPL stock opened at $27.38 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.73. PPL Co. has a 1 year low of $22.20 and a 1 year high of $29.03. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $26.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.22. The company has a market cap of $20.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.38, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.81.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.28 EPS. PPL’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This is a boost from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.76%. 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.