Bare Financial Services Inc Takes Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $75,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PPL. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 2,637.1% during the 4th quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 10,784 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 10,390 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments raised its stake in PPL by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 113,683 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,081,000 after purchasing an additional 1,810 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its stake in PPL by 432.3% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 383,445 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,391,000 after purchasing an additional 311,408 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in PPL by 55.6% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 3,397 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its stake in PPL by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 11,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 1,078 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. TheStreet lowered shares of PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of PPL from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Argus raised shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.09.

PPL Stock Down 0.3 %

PPL stock traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $27.91. The stock had a trading volume of 7,045,016 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,995,653. PPL Co. has a 12 month low of $22.20 and a 12 month high of $28.93. The company has a market capitalization of $20.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.00, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $26.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.45% and a net margin of 8.90%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.48 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $0.2575 dividend. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. PPL’s payout ratio is presently 103.00%.

PPL Company Profile

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.