J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 8,651 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PPL. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in shares of PPL in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its position 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 in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of PPL in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of PPL in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of PPL in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on PPL shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on PPL from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. StockNews.com raised PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their price target on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Argus raised PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.50.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PPL opened at $27.30 on Friday. PPL Co. has a 1-year low of $22.20 and a 1-year high of $29.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $26.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.14 billion, a PE ratio of 27.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.81.

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

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $0.2575 dividend. This is a boost from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.77%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is presently 103.00%.

PPL 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.