New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Acquires 183,790 Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 33,416.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 184,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 183,790 shares during the quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $5,984,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter worth about $228,509,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of PPL by 30.8% in the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 42,235 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,371,000 after purchasing an additional 9,950 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in PPL by 626.3% during the 4th quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 476,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,455,000 after buying an additional 410,570 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in PPL in the 4th quarter valued at $3,595,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of PPL by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,179,304 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,056,000 after buying an additional 77,071 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PPL news, SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 1,424 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total value of $47,675.52. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $376,951.32. The trade was a 11.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total transaction of $39,857.88. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,292,668.26. This represents a 2.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,140 shares of company stock worth $173,005. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on PPL shares. Barclays raised their price target on PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target 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. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of PPL in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Four equities research 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.27.

PPL Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of PPL stock opened at $35.03 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The business has a 50-day moving average of $34.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.26. PPL Co. has a 1 year low of $25.93 and a 1 year high of $35.91.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.2725 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.11%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.08%.

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.