Capital Investment Advisors LLC Buys 1,537 Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 24.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,792 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,537 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $281,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of PPL in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of PPL during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in shares of PPL during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in PPL by 84.5% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc grew its stake in PPL by 121.4% in the first quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 867 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL stock opened at $33.76 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $34.94 and a 200-day moving average of $34.16. PPL Co. has a one year low of $27.24 and a one year high of $36.70. The company has a market cap of $24.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.65.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.15 billion. PPL had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 8.88%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. PPL’s payout ratio is 80.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group increased their target price on PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays upped their price objective 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $36.90.

Insider Activity at PPL

In related news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 1,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.98, for a total transaction of $61,809.66. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 45,485 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,591,065.30. This trade represents a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.28% 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.