Ethic Inc. Buys Shares of 7,839 PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Ethic Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 7,839 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of PPL by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,231 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $235,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its position in PPL by 47.1% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 18,071 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $587,000 after purchasing an additional 5,784 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its position in PPL by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 74,087 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,405,000 after acquiring an additional 10,888 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in PPL during the 4th quarter worth approximately $648,000. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in PPL by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 190,419 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $6,181,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at PPL

In other PPL news, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total value of $39,857.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on PPL. 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. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Citigroup raised shares of PPL from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Three research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $36.90.

PPL Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:PPL traded down $0.27 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $34.63. 4,491,705 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,959,259. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market cap of $25.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.62, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $35.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.06. PPL Co. has a 1-year low of $27.24 and a 1-year high of $36.70.

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

PPL Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 3.15%. 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.