PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Shares Purchased by Electron Capital Partners LLC

Electron Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 71.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,306,007 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,792,200 shares during the quarter. PPL makes up 2.7% of Electron Capital Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Electron Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $119,061,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Leelyn Smith LLC raised its holdings in PPL by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Leelyn Smith LLC now owns 79,887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,209,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. raised its holdings in PPL by 15.7% in the 2nd quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 2,611 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC raised its holdings in PPL by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 11,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $311,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. raised its holdings in PPL by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. now owns 77,885 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,134,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in PPL by 46.7% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on PPL in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Finally, Bank of America boosted 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.75.

PPL Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of PPL stock opened at $32.74 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $31.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. PPL Co. has a twelve month low of $22.20 and a twelve month high of $33.01. The stock has a market cap of $24.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.82.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. PPL had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 9.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be paid a $0.2575 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.