Reaves W H & Co. Inc. Buys 88,531 Shares of PPL Corporation $PPL

Reaves W H & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,424,814 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 88,531 shares during the quarter. PPL comprises approximately 2.7% of Reaves W H & Co. Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Reaves W H & Co. Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $154,957,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PPL. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of PPL by 39.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 19,166 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $692,000 after buying an additional 5,428 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP grew its position in shares of PPL by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 62,375 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,252,000 after buying an additional 18,057 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth grew its position in shares of PPL by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 26,861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $971,000 after buying an additional 3,084 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of PPL by 64.9% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $159,000 after buying an additional 1,848 shares during the period. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC grew its position in shares of PPL by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 5,299 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $180,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Trading Down 0.1%

PPL opened at $35.36 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.88. PPL Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.17 and a fifty-two week high of $40.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.60 billion, a PE ratio of 21.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s 50-day moving average is $37.49 and its 200 day moving average is $36.64.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. PPL had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 9.41%. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that PPL Corporation will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 10th will be issued a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PPL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of PPL from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Mizuho increased their target price on PPL from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on PPL from $43.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PPL presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.83.

PPL Profile

PPL Corporation is an energy company that owns and operates electric transmission and distribution infrastructure and provides related customer services. The company’s core business centers on delivering electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers through regulated utility operations, maintaining grid reliability, responding to outages and managing customer billing and account services.

PPL’s activities include construction and maintenance of distribution and transmission lines, meter and grid management, and programs to support energy efficiency and the interconnection of distributed resources.