Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of PPL Call Options (NYSE:PPL)

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 5,697 call options on the company. This is an increase of 239% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,682 call options.

PPL Trading Up 1.1%

PPL stock traded up $0.41 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $35.81. 1,148,770 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,806,291. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.80. PPL has a twelve month low of $33.17 and a twelve month high of $40.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.95 billion, a PE ratio of 21.84, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.57.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. PPL had a return on equity of 9.41% and a net margin of 13.09%.The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that PPL will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th were given a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John W. Raymond sold 6,494 shares of PPL stock in a transaction on Monday, July 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.16, for a total transaction of $169,883.04. Following the transaction, the director owned 37,114 shares in the company, valued at approximately $970,902.24. The trade was a 14.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kristen Robinson sold 37,107 shares of PPL stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.05, for a total transaction of $929,530.35. Following the transaction, the director owned 222,897 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,583,569.85. This trade represents a 14.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 243,601 shares of company stock valued at $6,283,413 in the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its holdings in PPL by 293.8% in the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares during the period. Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of PPL during the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of PPL during the 4th quarter worth about $48,000. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of PPL by 72.5% during the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,587 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $99,000 after purchasing an additional 1,087 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rossby Financial LCC grew its stake in shares of PPL by 70.0% in the 4th quarter. Rossby Financial LCC now owns 3,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $105,000 after buying an additional 1,240 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on PPL shares. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of PPL in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays raised their price objective on PPL from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of PPL from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of PPL from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.58.

About PPL

PPL Corporation is an energy company that owns and operates electric transmission and distribution infrastructure and provides related customer services. The company’s core business centers on delivering electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers through regulated utility operations, maintaining grid reliability, responding to outages and managing customer billing and account services.

PPL’s activities include construction and maintenance of distribution and transmission lines, meter and grid management, and programs to support energy efficiency and the interconnection of distributed resources.