Strategic Investment Advisors MI Buys 25,382 Shares of PPL Corporation $PPL

Strategic Investment Advisors MI raised its stake in shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) by 256.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,277 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 25,382 shares during the quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI’s holdings in PPL were worth $1,348,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 293.8% in the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 799 shares in the last quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in PPL by 72.5% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,587 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 1,087 shares in the last quarter. Rossby Financial LCC grew its stake in PPL by 70.0% during the fourth quarter. Rossby Financial LCC now owns 3,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First United Bank & Trust bought a new stake in PPL during the 4th quarter worth approximately $107,000. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PPL Stock Down 0.5%

PPL stock opened at $35.54 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $35.91 and its 200 day moving average is $36.86. The stock has a market cap of $26.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. PPL Corporation has a 1-year low of $33.17 and a 1-year high of $40.10.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.02. PPL had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 9.41%. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. PPL’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that PPL Corporation will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th were issued a dividend of $0.285 per share. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 10th. PPL’s payout ratio is currently 69.51%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on PPL. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of PPL from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of PPL from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of PPL in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on PPL from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PPL currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PPL news, Director Kristen Robinson sold 37,107 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.05, for a total transaction of $929,530.35. Following the sale, the director owned 222,897 shares in the company, valued at $5,583,569.85. This trade represents a 14.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ashley F. Johnson sold 34,993 shares of PPL stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.08, for a total value of $772,645.44. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 561,482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,397,522.56. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

PPL Company Profile

PPL Corporation is an energy company that owns and operates electric transmission and distribution infrastructure and provides related customer services. The company’s core business centers on delivering electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers through regulated utility operations, maintaining grid reliability, responding to outages and managing customer billing and account services.

PPL’s activities include construction and maintenance of distribution and transmission lines, meter and grid management, and programs to support energy efficiency and the interconnection of distributed resources.