Cerity Partners LLC Acquires 613 Shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) by 1.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 40,911 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 613 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $1,477,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PPL. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of PPL during the 1st quarter valued at about $209,000. Code Waechter LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PPL in the first quarter valued at approximately $238,000. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in PPL by 37.5% during the first quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 19,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $690,000 after buying an additional 5,213 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in PPL in the first quarter valued at approximately $287,000. Finally, Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in PPL by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $654,000 after purchasing an additional 1,630 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 1,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 45,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,591,065.30. This represents a 3.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

PPL Stock Performance

NYSE PPL opened at $36.18 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $34.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.35. PPL Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $28.62 and a fifty-two week high of $36.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.64.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $2.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that PPL Corporation will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th were paid a $0.2725 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. PPL’s payout ratio is currently 80.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PPL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PPL currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.70.

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.