Strategic Investment Advisors MI Buys New Stake in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL)

Strategic Investment Advisors MI bought a new stake in shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 13,472 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $486,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PPL. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 19,827 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $649,000 after buying an additional 2,215 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 4,499 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $146,000 after buying an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of PPL in the 4th quarter valued at about $785,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,090,143 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $165,226,000 after buying an additional 44,557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 146,777 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,764,000 after buying an additional 1,773 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company's stock.

PPL Stock Performance

NYSE PPL traded down $0.06 on Friday, hitting $33.57. 7,825,200 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,970,905. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. 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 $34.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.81 billion, a PE ratio of 24.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.65.

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 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 business had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that PPL Corporation will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The firm 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. PPL's payout ratio is 80.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPL

In related news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 1,767 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 45,485 shares in the company, valued at $1,591,065.30. The trade was a 3.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PPL. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Citigroup upgraded shares of PPL from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of PPL from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $36.80.

PPL 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.