Blue Trust Inc. Has $255,000 Stock Holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 91.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 7,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,689 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PPL. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 59,295 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,632,000 after acquiring an additional 2,342 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in PPL by 17.6% in the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 52,988 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,459,000 after purchasing an additional 7,941 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 18.9% during the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 13,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $373,000 after purchasing an additional 2,156 shares during the last quarter. SpiderRock Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PPL in the first quarter valued at $202,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of PPL by 3.2% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 184,081 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,068,000 after buying an additional 5,697 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL opened at $32.87 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.83, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.82. PPL Co. has a 12 month low of $23.99 and a 12 month high of $33.38. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. PPL had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 9.26%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.29 EPS. Research analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th were given a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.35%.

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.