Cohen & Steers Inc. Increases Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its position in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,987,399 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 188,500 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. owned approximately 0.95% of PPL worth $226,811,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in PPL during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Kentucky Trust Co purchased a new stake in PPL during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of PPL during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,114 shares during the period. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew 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. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their target price on shares of PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Citigroup upgraded PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PPL has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.70.

PPL Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of PPL stock opened at $34.75 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.71. PPL Co. has a 1-year low of $25.93 and a 1-year high of $36.64. The firm has a market cap of $25.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.72, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.65.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.09 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2725 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. This is a boost from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. PPL’s payout ratio is presently 90.08%.

Insider Transactions at PPL

In related news, insider John R. Crockett III sold 1,589 shares of PPL stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.12, for a total transaction of $52,627.68. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,845 shares in the company, valued at approximately $359,186.40. The trade was a 12.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 1,424 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total value of $47,675.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $376,951.32. This represents a 11.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 5,140 shares of company stock worth $173,005. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.