Alps Advisors Inc. Purchases 5,213 Shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL)

Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its position in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) by 37.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,213 shares during the quarter. Alps Advisors Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $690,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in PPL by 2.9% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in PPL by 17.5% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 79,088 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,824,000 after buying an additional 11,782 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in PPL by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,975,310 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $107,438,000 after buying an additional 250,564 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in PPL by 45.0% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 30,603 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,105,000 after buying an additional 9,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heartland Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in PPL during the 1st quarter valued at about $992,000. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on PPL. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Barclays upgraded shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PPL currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $36.70.

PPL Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of PPL stock opened at $34.76 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $34.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. PPL Corporation has a 52-week low of $27.93 and a 52-week high of $36.70. The company has a market cap of $25.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.74, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.64.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.15 billion. PPL had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 9.14%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.54 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that PPL Corporation will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th were given a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.74%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PPL news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 1,767 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.98, for a total transaction of $61,809.66. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 45,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,591,065.30. The trade was a 3.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

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.