PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Shares Bought by Graham Capital Management L.P.

Graham Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL - Free Report) by 734.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 360,429 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 317,258 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P.'s holdings in PPL were worth $11,700,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 0.8% during the fourth 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 shares of PPL by 6.0% during 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 during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of PPL by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 27,465,566 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $891,532,000 after buying an additional 3,380,745 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in PPL by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,677,941 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $572,300,000 after acquiring an additional 500,058 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in PPL by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,672,428 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $411,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,371,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on PPL shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. StockNews.com upgraded PPL from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup upgraded PPL from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $36.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total transaction of $39,857.88. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,167 shares in the company, valued at $1,292,668.26. This trade represents a 2.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

PPL Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of PPL opened at $35.49 on Friday. PPL Co. has a one year low of $27.24 and a one year high of $36.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $35.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $26.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.70.

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.15 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.88% and a net margin of 10.49%. The business's revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This is a boost from PPL's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.07%. PPL's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PPL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.