PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Shares Bought by Amundi

Amundi raised its holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 398,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,200 shares during the quarter. Amundi’s holdings in PPL were worth $12,810,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in PPL by 85.7% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 111,288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,834,000 after buying an additional 51,366 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in PPL by 2.3% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,260,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $140,935,000 after buying an additional 96,491 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in PPL by 0.9% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,512,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $215,430,000 after buying an additional 55,594 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new stake in PPL during the third quarter valued at about $1,218,000. Finally, Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC lifted its stake in PPL by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,997,610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $64,842,000 after buying an additional 124,275 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PPL news, SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 6,639 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.16, for a total transaction of $213,510.24. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,210 shares in the company, valued at $360,513.60. This trade represents a 37.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total value of $39,857.88. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,292,668.26. This trade represents a 2.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,779 shares of company stock worth $386,515. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

PPL Trading Up 2.3 %

NYSE:PPL opened at $34.95 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $33.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.08. PPL Co. has a 52 week low of $25.93 and a 52 week high of $35.91. The company has a market capitalization of $25.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.76. 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 released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.2725 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.08%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of PPL in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup upgraded PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.70.

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.