Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. Buys Shares of 2,299 PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 2,299 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $64,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PPL. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in PPL in the 4th quarter valued at about $570,789,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of PPL during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $108,799,000. Electron Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 437.5% during the 4th quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,890,402 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $132,530,000 after purchasing an additional 3,980,626 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 91.3% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,821,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $160,977,000 after purchasing an additional 2,778,820 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 50.3% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,701,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572,771 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PPL has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of PPL from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of PPL from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of PPL in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PPL currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.80.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PPL opened at $32.55 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $31.70 and its 200 day moving average is $29.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company has a market capitalization of $24.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.82. PPL Co. has a fifty-two week low of $22.35 and a fifty-two week high of $33.38.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. PPL had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 9.26%. The company’s revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.00%.

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.