J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Buys New Holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 8,651 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in PPL during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in PPL by 179.8% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in PPL during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in PPL during the third quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in PPL during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on PPL shares. TheStreet cut shares of PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of PPL from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.50.

PPL Stock Performance

NYSE:PPL opened at $27.30 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $26.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.26. PPL Co. has a 1-year low of $22.20 and a 1-year high of $29.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market cap of $20.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.81.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. PPL had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 8.45%. The business’s revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.28 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.7 EPS for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. PPL’s payout ratio is presently 103.00%.

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.