Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Boosts Stock Position in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL - Free Report) by 17.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 79,088 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 11,782 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.'s holdings in PPL were worth $2,824,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in PPL in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its position in shares of PPL by 141.0% during the first quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 723 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 423 shares in the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in PPL in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in PPL by 84.5% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,264 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its stake in PPL by 121.4% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 1,767 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.98, for a total transaction of $61,809.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 45,485 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,591,065.30. This trade represents a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PPL. Guggenheim boosted their price target on PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of PPL from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of PPL from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of PPL from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, PPL presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $36.70.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL stock traded up $0.22 on Thursday, hitting $33.76. 2,411,936 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,973,188. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.96 billion, a PE ratio of 25.01, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.15. PPL Corporation has a 1 year low of $27.24 and a 1 year high of $36.70.

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.54 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that PPL Corporation will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th were issued a $0.2725 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. PPL's dividend payout ratio is presently 80.74%.

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.