35,209 Shares in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Bought by Wintrust Investments LLC

Wintrust Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 35,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $932,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PPL. Sit Investment Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in PPL in the second quarter valued at about $8,535,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in PPL by 2.1% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 71,689 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,897,000 after buying an additional 1,450 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in PPL by 4.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,424,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $64,144,000 after buying an additional 100,134 shares during the last quarter. Lido Advisors LLC raised its stake in PPL by 12.1% in the second quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 79,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,105,000 after buying an additional 8,564 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its stake in PPL by 9.1% in the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 1,365,013 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,118,000 after buying an additional 114,236 shares during the last quarter. 73.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PPL Stock Up 0.9 %

PPL stock opened at $26.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $19.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.83. PPL Co. has a 52 week low of $22.20 and a 52 week high of $31.74. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $24.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

PPL Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, September 8th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 7th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 86.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Guggenheim decreased their price target on PPL from $31.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Monday, October 9th. StockNews.com upgraded PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 13th. TheStreet cut PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of PPL in a research note on Monday, October 2nd. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on PPL from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.88.

PPL Profile

PPL Corporation, an energy company, focuses on providing electricity and natural gas to approximately 3.5 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.