Cerity Partners LLC Increases Holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 9.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 40,298 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,510 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $1,318,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in PPL by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,677,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $572,300,000 after buying an additional 500,058 shares during the period. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,997,610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $64,842,000 after purchasing an additional 124,275 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of PPL by 128.0% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 82,063 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,641,000 after buying an additional 46,071 shares in the last quarter. Aviso Wealth Management purchased a new stake in PPL in the fourth quarter worth approximately $256,000. Finally, Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of PPL by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 696,487 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $22,608,000 after acquiring an additional 16,188 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total value of $39,857.88. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,167 shares in the company, valued at $1,292,668.26. The trade was a 2.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John R. Crockett III sold 1,589 shares of PPL stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.12, for a total value of $52,627.68. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,845 shares in the company, valued at $359,186.40. This trade represents a 12.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,140 shares of company stock valued at $173,005. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on PPL. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group raised their price target on PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup upgraded PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.70.

PPL Stock Up 1.1 %

PPL opened at $35.67 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. PPL Co. has a twelve month low of $26.36 and a twelve month high of $36.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.48, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $34.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.55.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. PPL had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 8.88%. Equities research analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This is a boost from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. PPL’s payout ratio is presently 90.08%.

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.