Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Grows Stock Holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,647,682 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 69,720 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in PPL were worth $85,942,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PPL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in PPL by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 91,859,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,981,760,000 after buying an additional 750,033 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 36,829,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,195,484,000 after acquiring an additional 2,070,499 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of PPL by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 27,465,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $891,532,000 after acquiring an additional 3,380,745 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in PPL by 2.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 500,058 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners increased its position in PPL by 8,266.9% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 9,518,141 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $309,060,000 after purchasing an additional 9,404,382 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPL

In other news, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total transaction of $39,857.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,292,668.26. This represents a 2.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

PPL Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:PPL opened at $36.37 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $35.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.77. PPL Co. has a 52-week low of $27.11 and a 52-week high of $36.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a market capitalization of $26.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.65.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.09 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.88% and a net margin of 10.49%. As a group, analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.2725 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.00%. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.08%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PPL has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group upped their price target on PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, PPL presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.70.

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.