PPL Corporation (PPL)

Panagora Asset Management Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL – Free Report) by 7.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 122,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,032 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $3,327,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of PPL by 13.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,390,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $339,048,000 after buying an additional 1,695,726 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in PPL by 13,891.2% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,724,495 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $276,229,000 after buying an additional 11,640,696 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,237,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $217,624,000 after buying an additional 592,279 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,850,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $161,405,000 after buying an additional 45,548 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in PPL by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,678,680 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $180,992,000 after acquiring an additional 18,822 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Analysts Set New Price Targets Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on PPL from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Mizuho upped their price target on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.27. Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on PPL PPL Stock Down 0.1 % Shares of PPL opened at $29.59 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.81. PPL Co. has a 1 year low of $22.20 and a 1 year high of $29.69. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.79. PPL (NYSE:PPL – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.02. PPL had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 8.80%. The business had revenue of $2.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.48 earnings per share. PPL’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. PPL Announces Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%. About PPL (Free Report) 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. Read More Five stocks we like better than PPL 3 Must-Buy Warren Buffett Stocks for Volatile Times Canada Goose Flies Higher Driven By DTC Growth Most Volatile Stocks, What Investors Need to Know CVS Health Stock Has a Silver Lining Called Value About the Markup Calculator Magnificent 7 Still Magnificent as the Halfway Mark Approaches?