Private Advisor Group LLC Purchases 13,297 Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 19.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 81,993 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,297 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $2,712,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in PPL by 4.1% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 59,295 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,632,000 after acquiring an additional 2,342 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in PPL by 17.6% during the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 52,988 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,459,000 after purchasing an additional 7,941 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its stake in PPL by 18.9% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 13,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $373,000 after purchasing an additional 2,156 shares in the last quarter. SpiderRock Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in PPL during the 1st quarter worth approximately $202,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 3.2% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 184,081 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,068,000 after buying an additional 5,697 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of PPL from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on PPL from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Barclays increased their price objective on PPL from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on PPL from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of PPL in a research note on Friday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.40.

PPL Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE PPL opened at $32.71 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $24.13 billion, a PE ratio of 28.69, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.82. PPL Co. has a 12 month low of $24.10 and a 12 month high of $33.38. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $32.29 and a 200-day moving average of $29.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.29 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that PPL Co. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.35%.

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.