Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA Boosts Stock Holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA increased its holdings in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL - Free Report) by 12.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 206,976 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 23,138 shares during the quarter. PPL accounts for about 1.1% of Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA's portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA's holdings in PPL were worth $7,474,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in PPL by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 91,859,527 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,981,760,000 after buying an additional 750,033 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in PPL by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 36,829,446 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,195,484,000 after purchasing an additional 2,070,499 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in PPL by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 27,465,566 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $891,532,000 after purchasing an additional 3,380,745 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in PPL by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,677,941 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $572,300,000 after purchasing an additional 500,058 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in PPL by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,672,428 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $411,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,371,000 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PPL news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 1,767 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was 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 directly owns 45,485 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,591,065.30. The trade was a 3.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL stock traded down $0.07 on Friday, hitting $34.04. The company had a trading volume of 3,221,912 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,952,868. The firm has a market cap of $25.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $35.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.17. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $27.24 and a twelve month high of $36.70.

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $2.50 billion during 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%. PPL's quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.2725 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. PPL's payout ratio is 80.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on PPL. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded PPL from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Barclays boosted their price target on PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, PPL has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $36.90.

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.