8,250 Shares in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Bought by GSA Capital Partners LLP

GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 8,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $273,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of PPL by 25.3% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,890,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $162,882,000 after buying an additional 1,189,339 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in PPL by 91.3% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,821,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $160,977,000 after acquiring an additional 2,778,820 shares during the last quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in PPL by 71.3% in the second quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,306,007 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $119,061,000 after acquiring an additional 1,792,200 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in PPL by 3.4% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,228,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $89,808,000 after acquiring an additional 104,662 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 8.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,571,253 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $71,098,000 after purchasing an additional 202,296 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America upped their price objective on PPL from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of PPL in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of PPL in a research report on Friday, October 25th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $37.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on PPL from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PPL has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.50.

PPL Stock Performance

PPL opened at $34.45 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $32.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The company has a market capitalization of $25.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.81. PPL Co. has a 1-year low of $25.35 and a 1-year high of $35.00.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.42. PPL had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 9.95%. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be paid a $0.2575 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.99%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is currently 91.97%.

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.