The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Acquires 10,418 Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,795,009 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,418 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in PPL were worth $58,266,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PPL. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in PPL in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Kentucky Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in shares of PPL during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its stake in PPL by 1,092.2% during the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 1,216 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in PPL by 84.5% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Barclays raised their price target on PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Citigroup raised PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, UBS Group raised 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, PPL presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,292,668.26. This trade represents a 2.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

PPL Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of PPL opened at $36.37 on Wednesday. PPL Co. has a twelve month low of $27.11 and a twelve month high of $36.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.77. The company has a market cap of $26.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.65.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.88% and a net margin of 10.49%. As a group, analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2725 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.00%. This is a boost from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. PPL’s payout ratio is presently 90.08%.

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.