Natixis Advisors L.P. Raises Stock Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its position in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 432.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 383,445 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 311,408 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. owned 0.05% of PPL worth $10,391,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in PPL by 55.6% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 3,397 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in PPL by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 11,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $309,000 after acquiring an additional 1,078 shares in the last quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. raised its position in PPL by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 17,975 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $487,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Savant Capital LLC grew its position in shares of PPL by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 10,887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Trading Up 0.6 %

PPL stock opened at $28.52 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $21.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.69, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.81. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.51. PPL Co. has a 52 week low of $22.20 and a 52 week high of $28.92.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 9.29%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.48 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.71 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. This is a boost from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. PPL’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PPL. Barclays lifted their price objective on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on PPL from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Argus upgraded shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, March 8th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.27.

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.