PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Shares Acquired by Savant Capital LLC

Savant Capital LLC lifted its holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 498 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $295,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 182,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,304,000 after acquiring an additional 15,866 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its position in shares of PPL by 35.1% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 14,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $333,000 after buying an additional 3,674 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of PPL by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 21,168 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $499,000 after buying an additional 1,138 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of PPL by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 190,136 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,480,000 after buying an additional 27,142 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of PPL by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 255,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,016,000 after buying an additional 2,909 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Argus upgraded PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Mizuho increased their target price on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on PPL from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, TheStreet lowered PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.27.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL stock opened at $28.09 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.08. PPL Co. has a 1-year low of $22.20 and a 1-year high of $28.93. The firm has a market cap of $20.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.27, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.81.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.02. PPL had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 8.80%. The company had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.48 earnings per share. PPL’s revenue was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. PPL’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

PPL Company 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.