Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Invests $349,000 in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 12,890 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $349,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 60,166,843 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,672,037,000 after acquiring an additional 195,849 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of PPL by 4.8% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,759,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,229,596,000 after purchasing an additional 1,971,238 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in PPL by 13.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,390,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $339,048,000 after purchasing an additional 1,695,726 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in PPL by 6.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,884,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $367,969,000 after purchasing an additional 775,294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 13,891.2% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,724,495 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $276,229,000 after buying an additional 11,640,696 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL opened at $26.62 on Friday. PPL Co. has a 12 month low of $22.20 and a 12 month high of $29.03. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The company has a market cap of $19.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.81.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.45% and a net margin of 8.90%. PPL’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.28 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that PPL Co. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.87%. This is a boost from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 103.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on PPL shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of PPL from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com downgraded PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 24th. Barclays lifted their price objective on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.50.

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.