PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Shares Purchased by MGO One Seven LLC

MGO One Seven LLC boosted its holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 12.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,567 shares during the quarter. MGO One Seven LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $471,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PPL. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co acquired a new stake in PPL during the third quarter valued at approximately $225,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its holdings in shares of PPL by 32.3% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 41,169 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after buying an additional 10,043 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of PPL by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 16,114 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $533,000 after acquiring an additional 1,710 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 34,758,947 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,115,824,000 after acquiring an additional 3,731,412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 882,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,192,000 after acquiring an additional 52,547 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Citigroup raised shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.70.

PPL Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of PPL stock opened at $35.93 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market cap of $26.55 billion, a PE ratio of 29.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.65. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.72. PPL Co. has a 12 month low of $27.11 and a 12 month high of $36.66.

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

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.2725 dividend. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPL

In related news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 981 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total transaction of $32,843.88. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 45,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,520,460.72. This represents a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 1,424 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total value of $47,675.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $376,951.32. This represents a 11.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,551 shares of company stock worth $120,377 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

About PPL

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.