PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Stake Boosted by Graham Capital Management L.P.

Graham Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 734.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 360,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 317,258 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in PPL were worth $11,700,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of PPL by 8,266.9% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 9,518,141 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $309,060,000 after acquiring an additional 9,404,382 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in PPL in the 4th quarter worth about $228,509,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $147,480,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of PPL by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 27,465,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $891,532,000 after buying an additional 3,380,745 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Reaves W H & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of PPL by 182.2% during the fourth quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 3,951,116 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $128,254,000 after buying an additional 2,551,070 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on PPL. StockNews.com upgraded PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup raised PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.90.

PPL Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE PPL opened at $35.49 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $26.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.33, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.70. PPL Co. has a 12 month low of $27.24 and a 12 month high of $36.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.96.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.07. PPL had a return on equity of 8.88% and a net margin of 10.49%. The business had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.15 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2725 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.07%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.74%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total value of $39,857.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,167 shares in the company, valued at $1,292,668.26. This represents a 2.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

PPL 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.