Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd. Makes New Investment in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 20,464 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $664,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in PPL by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 91,859,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,981,760,000 after acquiring an additional 750,033 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in PPL by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 36,829,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,195,484,000 after purchasing an additional 2,070,499 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in PPL by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 27,465,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $891,532,000 after purchasing an additional 3,380,745 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in PPL by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,677,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $572,300,000 after purchasing an additional 500,058 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in PPL by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,672,428 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $411,347,000 after buying an additional 1,371,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PPL. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Citigroup raised shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. StockNews.com upgraded PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Guggenheim raised their price target on PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $36.90.

PPL Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE PPL opened at $35.49 on Friday. PPL Co. has a 52 week low of $27.24 and a 52 week high of $36.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.33, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a fifty day moving average of $35.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.96.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.15 billion. PPL had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 8.88%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. On average, analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 80.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPL

In other news, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total transaction of $39,857.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,292,668.26. The trade was a 2.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.