Reaves W H & Co. Inc. Purchases 515,523 Shares of PPL Corporation $PPL

Reaves W H & Co. Inc. increased its position in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) by 13.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,336,283 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 515,523 shares during the quarter. PPL makes up about 2.9% of Reaves W H & Co. Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. owned about 0.59% of PPL worth $161,136,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPL. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. grew its position in shares of PPL by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 6,924 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $257,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC lifted its position in PPL by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 5,299 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $180,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank boosted its stake in PPL by 1.1% during the second quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 37,076 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,257,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. First Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of PPL by 1.0% during the third quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 45,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,687,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Opus Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 8.2% during the third quarter. Opus Capital Group LLC now owns 7,173 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Bank of America boosted their price target on PPL from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of PPL from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on PPL from $43.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.50.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PPL opened at $35.70 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.66. PPL Corporation has a 1 year low of $32.50 and a 1 year high of $38.26. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $35.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.08. The stock has a market cap of $26.41 billion, a PE ratio of 24.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.70.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.65%.

About PPL

PPL Corporation is an energy company that owns and operates electric transmission and distribution infrastructure and provides related customer services. The company’s core business centers on delivering electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers through regulated utility operations, maintaining grid reliability, responding to outages and managing customer billing and account services.

PPL’s activities include construction and maintenance of distribution and transmission lines, meter and grid management, and programs to support energy efficiency and the interconnection of distributed resources.