SG Americas Securities LLC Grows Stock Position in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL)

SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) by 3.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 679 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $695,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PPL. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in PPL by 128.0% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 82,063 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,641,000 after acquiring an additional 46,071 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. grew its position in PPL by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 17,191 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $558,000 after acquiring an additional 2,871 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in PPL by 39.7% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $115,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of PPL by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 113,658 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,804,000 after buying an additional 2,370 shares during the period. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in shares of PPL by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 22,777 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $739,000 after buying an additional 846 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. UBS Group increased their target price on PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim raised their target price on PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup raised PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.80.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PPL opened at $33.75 on Friday. PPL Corporation has a twelve month low of $27.24 and a twelve month high of $36.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The company has a market capitalization of $24.95 billion, a PE ratio of 25.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.11.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.07. PPL had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 9.14%. The firm had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.54 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that PPL Corporation will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 10th. PPL’s payout ratio is currently 80.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PPL news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 1,767 shares of PPL stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.98, for a total value of $61,809.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 45,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,591,065.30. The trade was a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About PPL

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.