Traders Purchase Large Volume of PPL Call Options (NYSE:PPL)

PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Traders purchased 12,323 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 522% compared to the average daily volume of 1,980 call options.

Institutional Trading of PPL

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in PPL by 4.7% in the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 41,649 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $969,000 after acquiring an additional 1,886 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in PPL by 11.5% in the third quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 75,116 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,770,000 after buying an additional 7,731 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in PPL in the third quarter valued at $665,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in PPL by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,551,708 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,558,000 after buying an additional 205,727 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in PPL by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,390,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $339,048,000 after buying an additional 1,695,726 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PPL. Barclays raised their target price on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on PPL from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, PPL presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.45.

PPL Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE PPL opened at $27.96 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.63 billion, a PE ratio of 27.15, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.82. PPL has a twelve month low of $22.20 and a twelve month high of $29.89. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.26.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.02. PPL had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 8.80%. The company had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that PPL will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a $0.2575 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.68%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%.

About PPL

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.