Norges Bank Acquires New Holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 7,039,703 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $228,509,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in PPL. Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of PPL during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in shares of PPL during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 1,092.2% in the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 1,216 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,114 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 84.5% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Newton One Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of PPL during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PPL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on PPL in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 target price for the company. UBS Group raised their target price on PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PPL currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.27.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 1,424 shares of PPL stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total transaction of $47,675.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $376,951.32. This trade represents a 11.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John R. Crockett III sold 1,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.12, for a total value of $52,627.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,845 shares in the company, valued at approximately $359,186.40. The trade was a 12.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,140 shares of company stock worth $173,005 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

PPL Stock Performance

PPL stock opened at $35.70 on Monday. PPL Co. has a fifty-two week low of $25.93 and a fifty-two week high of $35.97. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $26.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.76.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.09 billion. PPL had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 8.88%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2725 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.05%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.08%.

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.