AE Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 400,346 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 18,414 shares during the quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $11,070,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PPL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in PPL in the fourth quarter valued at $115,605,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its holdings in PPL by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 10,289 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $279,000 after buying an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in PPL in the fourth quarter valued at $216,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its holdings in PPL by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 2,333,666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $63,242,000 after buying an additional 85,983 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in PPL by 46.7% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on PPL. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of PPL from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of PPL from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of PPL in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.75.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of PPL opened at $32.46 on Friday. PPL Co. has a fifty-two week low of $22.20 and a fifty-two week high of $32.82. The company has a market capitalization of $23.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.11.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.05. PPL had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 9.26%. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that PPL Co. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2575 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

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.