Everence Capital Management Inc. Has $379,000 Stock Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Everence Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $379,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in shares of PPL by 6.1% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 171,908 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,050,000 after buying an additional 9,905 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of PPL in the third quarter worth about $2,412,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of PPL by 13.4% in the third 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in shares of PPL by 13.6% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,498,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,303,000 after buying an additional 178,898 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America boosted their price target on PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com cut PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. TheStreet cut PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Argus raised PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, March 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.50.

PPL Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of PPL opened at $26.62 on Friday. PPL Co. has a 12-month low of $22.20 and a 12-month high of $29.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $26.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.11.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.02. PPL had a return on equity of 8.45% and a net margin of 8.90%. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.28 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $0.2575 dividend. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is currently 103.00%.

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.