Wealth Alliance Purchases 428 Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Wealth Alliance lifted its position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 28,507 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 428 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in PPL were worth $925,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 195.5% in the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 516 shares in the last quarter. Kentucky Trust Co bought a new position in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of PPL in the third quarter worth approximately $34,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 1,092.2% in the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 1,216 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 1,114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 139.2% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,512 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on PPL shares. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of PPL from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup increased their price target on PPL from $31.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Bank of America increased their price target on PPL from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on PPL in a report on Friday, October 25th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $37.00 price target on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PPL has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.00.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of PPL stock opened at $34.17 on Friday. PPL Co. has a one year low of $25.87 and a one year high of $35.15. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $32.96 and its 200 day moving average is $32.68. The stock has a market cap of $25.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.86.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.03). PPL had a return on equity of 8.88% and a net margin of 10.49%. The company had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that PPL Co. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2725 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPL

In other PPL news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 981 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total transaction of $32,843.88. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 45,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,520,460.72. This trade represents a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 6,639 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.16, for a total value of $213,510.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $360,513.60. This represents a 37.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,633 shares of company stock valued at $346,657 over the last ninety days. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

PPL 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.