California Public Employees Retirement System Has $115.71 Million Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

California Public Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 83.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,269,687 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,943,282 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in PPL were worth $115,709,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PPL. DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 1.1% during the third quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 69,099 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,628,000 after buying an additional 748 shares during the last quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC increased its position in shares of PPL by 5.4% during the third quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC now owns 31,799 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $749,000 after purchasing an additional 1,633 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in shares of PPL during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,142,000. Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of PPL by 47.6% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 128,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,035,000 after purchasing an additional 41,574 shares during the period. Finally, Spirit of America Management Corp NY increased its position in shares of PPL by 23.0% during the third quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 41,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $978,000 after purchasing an additional 7,750 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PPL opened at $27.24 on Wednesday. PPL Co. has a twelve month low of $22.20 and a twelve month high of $29.03. The firm has a market cap of $20.09 billion, a PE ratio of 27.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.88. The business has a fifty day moving average of $26.86 and a 200-day moving average of $26.25.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.02. PPL had a return on equity of 8.45% and a net margin of 8.90%. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.28 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.2575 dividend. This is a boost from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.78%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 103.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America boosted their price objective on PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Argus upgraded PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. TheStreet cut PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, PPL has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.50.

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.