J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Purchases 39,750 Shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL - Free Report) by 514.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 47,472 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 39,750 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.'s holdings in PPL were worth $1,714,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 750,033 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in PPL by 6.0% in 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 buying an additional 2,070,499 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in PPL by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 27,465,566 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $891,532,000 after buying an additional 3,380,745 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in PPL by 2.9% in 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 period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in PPL by 12.1% in 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 period. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on PPL shares. Barclays raised shares of PPL from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of PPL from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $36.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 1,767 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were 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 directly owned 45,485 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,591,065.30. This represents a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

PPL Trading Up 0.0%

PPL stock traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $36.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,648,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,378,371. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market cap of $27.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $34.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.45. PPL Corporation has a 12 month low of $29.25 and a 12 month high of $36.99.

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.07. PPL had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 9.14%. The company had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.54 earnings per share. PPL's quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that PPL Corporation will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 10th. PPL's payout ratio is currently 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.