Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. Increases Stock Holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 63,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,558 shares during the quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in PPL were worth $1,710,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PPL. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in PPL by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 171,908 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,050,000 after purchasing an additional 9,905 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PPL during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of PPL during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,412,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of PPL by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,390,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $339,048,000 after acquiring an additional 1,695,726 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of PPL by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,498,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,303,000 after acquiring an additional 178,898 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on PPL shares. TheStreet lowered PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Bank of America lifted their price target on PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on PPL from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Argus upgraded PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.50.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of PPL stock traded up $0.04 during trading on Thursday, reaching $27.41. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,608,966 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,924,919. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. PPL Co. has a 12-month low of $22.20 and a 12-month high of $29.03. The company has a market capitalization of $20.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.81. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $26.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.25.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.45% and a net margin of 8.90%. PPL’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that PPL Co. will post 1.7 EPS for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.2575 dividend. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.76%. This is a boost from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. PPL’s payout ratio is 103.00%.

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.