Citigroup Inc. grew its position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL – Free Report) by 52.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 805,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 276,611 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned about 0.11% of PPL worth $22,387,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PPL. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its holdings in PPL by 3.7% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 350,807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,501,000 after purchasing an additional 12,428 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 2.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,292,612 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $65,480,000 after buying an additional 50,658 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 9.4% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 341,996 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,779,000 after buying an additional 29,496 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 1.2% during the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 409,552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,697,000 after buying an additional 4,998 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 7.7% during the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 10,764 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 766 shares during the last quarter. 73.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of PPL in a report on Wednesday, August 23rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $26.00 price objective on the stock. TheStreet downgraded shares of PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of PPL from $31.00 to $29.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 23rd. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of PPL in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of PPL from $34.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, July 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, PPL currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.17.
PPL Stock Up 0.9 %
PPL opened at $25.27 on Monday. PPL Co. has a twelve month low of $23.47 and a twelve month high of $31.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $26.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.22. The company has a market cap of $18.63 billion, a PE ratio of 24.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.78.
PPL (NYSE:PPL – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.03). PPL had a return on equity of 7.75% and a net margin of 8.79%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
PPL Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 7th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.80%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is presently 92.31%.
PPL Company Profile
PPL Corporation, an energy company, focuses on providing electricity and natural gas to approximately 3.5 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.
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