PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Shares Purchased by D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL - Free Report) by 167.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 662,438 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 414,826 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of PPL worth $21,503,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of PPL by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,677,941 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $572,300,000 after purchasing an additional 500,058 shares during the period. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC lifted its position in shares of PPL by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,997,610 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $64,842,000 after purchasing an additional 124,275 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of PPL by 128.0% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 82,063 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,641,000 after purchasing an additional 46,071 shares during the period. Aviso Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of PPL in the 4th quarter worth approximately $256,000. Finally, Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of PPL by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 696,487 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $22,608,000 after purchasing an additional 16,188 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 37,167 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,292,668.26. This represents a 2.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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. Citigroup upgraded shares of PPL from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of PPL from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $36.90.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PPL traded up $0.29 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $34.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,691,701 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,358,053. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.66 billion, a PE ratio of 28.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.70. PPL Co. has a twelve month low of $27.24 and a twelve month high of $36.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $35.17 and a 200 day moving average of $33.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

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

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.