PPL Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:PPL)

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors acquired 5,697 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 239% compared to the average daily volume of 1,682 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on PPL. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a report on Wednesday. Seaport Research Partners set a $42.00 target price on shares of PPL in a report on Monday, April 20th. Barclays raised their target price on PPL from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.67.

PPL Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of NYSE:PPL opened at $36.09 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $35.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.81. PPL has a 52-week low of $33.17 and a 52-week high of $40.10.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 9.41% and a net margin of 13.09%.The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that PPL will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th were issued a dividend of $0.285 per share. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 10th. PPL’s payout ratio is 69.51%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John W. Raymond sold 6,494 shares of PPL stock in a transaction on Monday, July 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.16, for a total value of $169,883.04. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 37,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $970,902.24. The trade was a 14.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kristen Robinson sold 37,107 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.05, for a total transaction of $929,530.35. Following the sale, the director owned 222,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,583,569.85. This represents a 14.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 243,601 shares of company stock valued at $6,283,413. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PPL. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 39.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 19,166 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $692,000 after purchasing an additional 5,428 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP grew its stake in shares of PPL by 40.7% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 62,375 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,252,000 after buying an additional 18,057 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth grew its stake in shares of PPL by 13.0% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 26,861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $971,000 after buying an additional 3,084 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of PPL by 64.9% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $159,000 after buying an additional 1,848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC increased 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 buying an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.