Mather Group LLC. Increases Stock Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 8.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,975 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 955 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in PPL were worth $325,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PPL. FMR LLC increased its stake in PPL by 13.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,390,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $339,048,000 after purchasing an additional 1,695,726 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in PPL by 13,891.2% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,724,495 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $276,229,000 after purchasing an additional 11,640,696 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in PPL by 6.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,237,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $217,624,000 after purchasing an additional 592,279 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in PPL by 0.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,850,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $161,405,000 after purchasing an additional 45,548 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in PPL by 1.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,416,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $104,063,000 after purchasing an additional 50,533 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PPL Stock Down 0.3 %

PPL stock opened at $27.91 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $20.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.81. PPL Co. has a 52 week low of $22.20 and a 52 week high of $28.93. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $27.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.54 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 firm had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.2575 dividend. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is 100.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TheStreet lowered shares of PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of PPL from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. StockNews.com lowered shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PPL has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.09.

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.