Summit Securities Group LLC Purchases New Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $26,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Kentucky Trust Co bought a new position in PPL in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in PPL during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its stake in PPL by 1,092.2% in the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 1,216 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 1,114 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 84.5% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Newton One Investments LLC acquired a new position in PPL during the fourth quarter worth $49,000. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on PPL. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of PPL in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 target price for the company. Barclays raised their price objective on PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Citigroup upgraded shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Four 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 981 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total transaction of $32,843.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 45,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,520,460.72. The trade was a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John R. Crockett III sold 1,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.12, for a total transaction of $52,627.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,845 shares in the company, valued at $359,186.40. This represents a 12.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,140 shares of company stock worth $173,005. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of PPL opened at $35.70 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $26.36 billion, a PE ratio of 29.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.76. PPL Co. has a 52-week low of $25.93 and a 52-week high of $35.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.86. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $34.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.30.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.03). PPL had a return on equity of 8.88% and a net margin of 10.49%. The company had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that PPL Co. will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is 90.08%.

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.