First Horizon Advisors Inc. Purchases 1,214 Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 55.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,397 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,214 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $92,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PPL. Mutual Advisors LLC increased its holdings in PPL by 0.9% during the third quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 46,833 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,103,000 after buying an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Alliance increased its position in PPL by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 19,792 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $536,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC raised its stake in PPL by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 10,887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after buying an additional 498 shares during the period. Janney Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC now owns 8,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $210,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Bridge Advisors increased its holdings in shares of PPL by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors now owns 13,724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $323,000 after acquiring an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. TheStreet lowered PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Argus raised PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, March 8th. Barclays lifted their target price on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.27.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL stock opened at $28.09 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $20.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.27, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.81. PPL Co. has a fifty-two week low of $22.20 and a fifty-two week high of $28.93. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.28.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.02. PPL had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 8.80%. The business had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. PPL’s revenue was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.2575 dividend. This is a boost from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.00%.

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.