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

PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors bought 12,323 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 522% compared to the typical volume of 1,980 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on PPL shares. StockNews.com raised PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on PPL from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays increased their price objective on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Argus raised PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.45.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of PPL by 179.8% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in PPL during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in PPL during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its stake in PPL by 138.9% during the 4th quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,371 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 797 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in PPL by 46.7% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL stock opened at $27.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.08. PPL has a fifty-two week low of $22.20 and a fifty-two week high of $29.89. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $28.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.25. The firm has a market cap of $20.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.15, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.82.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.02. PPL had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 9.29%. The company had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that PPL will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is 100.00%.

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.