Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Acquires 6,958 Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 47.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,958 shares during the quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $585,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of PPL by 9.5% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 182,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,304,000 after buying an additional 15,866 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 35.1% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 14,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $333,000 after purchasing an additional 3,674 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in shares of PPL by 16.7% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 190,136 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,480,000 after buying an additional 27,142 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its holdings in PPL by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 255,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,016,000 after buying an additional 2,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust boosted its position in PPL by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 19,382 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $457,000 after buying an additional 1,438 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on PPL shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays raised their price objective on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Argus raised shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PPL presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.27.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL opened at $28.52 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $27.10 and a 200-day moving average of $26.51. PPL Co. has a one year low of $22.20 and a one year high of $28.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The company has a market cap of $21.04 billion, a PE ratio of 27.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.81.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.02. PPL had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 9.29%. The firm had revenue of $2.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.48 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $0.2575 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 dividend yield of 3.61%. PPL’s payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

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.