Greenleaf Trust Acquires 4,348 Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Greenleaf Trust raised its holdings in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 42.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,486 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,348 shares during the quarter. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in PPL were worth $393,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PPL. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of PPL by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 69,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,889,000 after acquiring an additional 5,917 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of PPL by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Alliance grew its stake in shares of PPL by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 19,792 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $536,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of PPL by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 23,142 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $627,000 after acquiring an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of PPL in the 4th quarter worth $1,209,000. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of PPL from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. StockNews.com lowered shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 24th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Argus raised shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, March 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.50.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PPL opened at $27.24 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.81. PPL Co. has a fifty-two week low of $22.20 and a fifty-two week high of $29.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company’s 50-day moving average is $26.86 and its 200 day moving average is $26.25.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. PPL had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 8.45%. The company’s revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.28 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $0.2575 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.78%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is 103.00%.

About PPL

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.