Colonial River Investments LLC Makes New $287,000 Investment in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL)

Colonial River Investments LLC purchased a new stake in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,958 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $287,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in PPL in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. boosted its position in PPL by 141.0% during the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 723 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 423 shares during the period. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. 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 worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its holdings in shares of PPL by 121.4% during the first quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,581 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 867 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Guggenheim increased their target price 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. Citigroup raised shares of PPL from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wall Street Zen raised PPL from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on PPL from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, PPL has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $36.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 1,767 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.98, for a total value of $61,809.66. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 45,485 shares in the company, valued at $1,591,065.30. This represents a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

PPL Trading Down 0.2%

PPL stock opened at $33.57 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $24.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.65. PPL Corporation has a 1 year low of $27.24 and a 1 year high of $36.70. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $34.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.81.

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.15 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 9.14% and a net margin of 11.49%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that PPL Corporation will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. PPL's dividend payout ratio is presently 80.74%.

About PPL

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.

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