Elevated Capital Advisors LLC Has $733,000 Stock Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Elevated Capital Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 2.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,167 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 534 shares during the quarter. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $733,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PPL. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in PPL by 91.3% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,821,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $160,977,000 after acquiring an additional 2,778,820 shares during the last quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in PPL by 71.3% during the 2nd quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,306,007 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $119,061,000 after acquiring an additional 1,792,200 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in PPL by 50.3% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,701,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $129,433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,572,771 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. bought a new stake in PPL during the 1st quarter worth about $31,713,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in PPL by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,217,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $116,105,000 after acquiring an additional 755,689 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Stock Up 1.4 %

PPL stock opened at $33.13 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.77. PPL Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.80 and a fifty-two week high of $33.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.06, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.05. PPL had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 9.26%. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.29 EPS. PPL’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that PPL Co. will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2575 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on PPL shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of PPL from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of PPL from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of PPL in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $38.00 target price on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.22.

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.