First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Purchases New Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 5,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in PPL by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 91,859,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,981,760,000 after acquiring an additional 750,033 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 36,829,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,195,484,000 after purchasing an additional 2,070,499 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew 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 worth $891,532,000 after purchasing an additional 3,380,745 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of PPL by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,677,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $572,300,000 after buying an additional 500,058 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of PPL by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,672,428 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $411,347,000 after buying an additional 1,371,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL opened at $33.76 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.16. PPL Co. has a 12 month low of $27.24 and a 12 month high of $36.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.65.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.15 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.88% and a net margin of 10.49%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.54 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on PPL. Citigroup upgraded shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays increased their price objective on PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their target price on PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, PPL presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.90.

Insider Activity

In other PPL news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 1,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.98, for a total value of $61,809.66. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 45,485 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,591,065.30. This trade represents a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.