6,598 Shares in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Bought by GAMMA Investing LLC

GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 6,598 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $173,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake 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 worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PPL during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in PPL in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in PPL in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its stake in PPL by 138.9% in the fourth quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,371 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 797 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. TheStreet cut PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Bank of America increased their price target on PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com upgraded PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Argus upgraded PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PPL currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.50.

PPL Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of PPL opened at $27.02 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. PPL Co. has a 12 month low of $22.20 and a 12 month high of $29.03. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $26.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.28. The firm has a market cap of $19.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.02, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.81.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion for 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.28 earnings per share. Analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.81%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 103.00%.

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.