Hantz Financial Services Inc. Invests $284,000 in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 10,274 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $284,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in PPL in the fourth quarter valued at $570,789,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in PPL in the fourth quarter valued at $115,605,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in PPL in the fourth quarter valued at $108,799,000. Electron Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in PPL by 437.5% in the fourth quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,890,402 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $132,530,000 after acquiring an additional 3,980,626 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in PPL by 239.8% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,128,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $84,789,000 after acquiring an additional 2,208,081 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PPL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on PPL from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on PPL from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on PPL from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.18.

PPL Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE PPL opened at $31.91 on Monday. PPL Co. has a 1 year low of $22.20 and a 1 year high of $32.12. The firm has a market cap of $23.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.98, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.31.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.05. PPL had a return on equity of 9.26% and a net margin of 10.17%. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that PPL Co. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be paid a $0.2575 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%.

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.