First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Increases Stock Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 10.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,078 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in PPL were worth $309,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in PPL by 13,891.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 11,640,696 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of PPL by 83.5% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 4,269,687 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $115,709,000 after buying an additional 1,943,282 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in PPL by 13.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,390,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $339,048,000 after buying an additional 1,695,726 shares in the last quarter. Covalis Capital LLP raised its stake in PPL by 132.7% in the third quarter. Covalis Capital LLP now owns 1,962,399 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,234,000 after buying an additional 1,118,978 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in PPL by 44.5% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,461,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,813,000 after buying an additional 1,066,268 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PPL opened at $28.36 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $27.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.51. PPL Co. has a 52-week low of $22.20 and a 52-week high of $28.93. The company has a market cap of $20.92 billion, a PE ratio of 27.53, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.48 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that PPL Co. will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.2575 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.63%. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. PPL’s payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on PPL. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. TheStreet downgraded PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.27.

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.