Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes $1.21 Million Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 44,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,209,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of PPL by 179.8% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the period. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in PPL in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in PPL in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in PPL in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its stake in PPL by 138.9% in the 4th quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,371 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 797 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on PPL shares. TheStreet lowered shares of PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Argus upgraded shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.50.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL stock opened at $27.38 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $26.84 and a 200-day moving average of $26.22. PPL Co. has a 1-year low of $22.20 and a 1-year high of $29.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The company has a market cap of $20.20 billion, a PE ratio of 27.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.81.

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

PPL Increases Dividend

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