312,998 Shares in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Purchased by Fred Alger Management LLC

Fred Alger Management LLC acquired a new stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 312,998 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $10,305,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PPL. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Kentucky Trust Co purchased a new stake in PPL in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new stake in PPL in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,114 shares during the period. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPL

In other news, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of PPL stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total transaction of $39,857.88. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,167 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,292,668.26. The trade was a 2.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Guggenheim boosted their target price on PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com raised PPL from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Citigroup raised PPL from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PPL presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $36.90.

PPL Trading Down 3.1%

Shares of PPL stock traded down $1.09 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $34.42. 6,605,909 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,915,799. PPL Co. has a fifty-two week low of $27.24 and a fifty-two week high of $36.70. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market cap of $25.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.45, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.70.

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.15 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.88% and a net margin of 10.49%. The business's revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.54 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.2725 dividend. This is a positive change from PPL's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. PPL's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.74%.

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.