Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Has $1.08 Million Stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 2nd, 2023

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL – Get Rating) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,773 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 599 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $1,075,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Clear Street Markets LLC lifted its position in shares of PPL by 11.9% in the third quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 4,070 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $103,000 after buying an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. Gofen & Glossberg LLC IL lifted its position in shares of PPL by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Gofen & Glossberg LLC IL now owns 15,214 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $445,000 after buying an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of PPL by 2.3% in the first quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC now owns 19,608 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $564,000 after buying an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of PPL by 56.3% in the third quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 1,238 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bluefin Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of PPL by 4.1% in the second quarter. Bluefin Capital Management LLC now owns 11,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $306,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. 70.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider David J. Bonenberger sold 29,080 shares of PPL stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $872,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 34,606 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,038,180. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PPL opened at $27.79 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.47 billion, a PE ratio of 26.98 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $27.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.97. PPL Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.47 and a fifty-two week high of $31.74.

PPL (NYSE:PPL – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 17th. The utilities provider reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.28. PPL had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 9.57%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.22 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 54.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 10th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.45%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 93.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PPL has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays initiated coverage on PPL in a report on Wednesday, January 18th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. StockNews.com initiated coverage on PPL in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. TheStreet cut PPL from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on PPL to $34.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 14th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on PPL from $32.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, March 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.63.

PPL Company Profile

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PPL Corp. engages in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. It operates through the two reportable segments: Kentucky Regulated & Pennsylvania Regulated. The Kentucky Regulated segment consists of LKE’s regulated electricity generation, transmission and distribution operations of Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company as well as regulated distribution and sale of natural gas of Louisville Gas and Electric Company.