Fisher Funds Management LTD Takes Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Fisher Funds Management LTD bought a new position in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 360,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $11,659,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PPL. Creative Planning grew its stake in PPL by 3.5% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 114,763 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,796,000 after buying an additional 3,892 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of PPL during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $345,000. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in shares of PPL by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 81,993 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,712,000 after acquiring an additional 13,297 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in PPL by 3,322.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 212,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,421,000 after acquiring an additional 206,216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its position in PPL by 23.6% during the third quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 63,199 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,091,000 after purchasing an additional 12,064 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PPL. Bank of America raised their target price on PPL from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays lowered their target price on PPL from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of PPL from $31.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on PPL in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 price target on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PPL presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.00.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PPL opened at $34.75 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.65 billion, a PE ratio of 28.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. PPL Co. has a twelve month low of $25.87 and a twelve month high of $35.15. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.73.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.03). PPL had a return on equity of 8.88% and a net margin of 10.49%. The business had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. This is a boost from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 1,424 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total transaction of $47,675.52. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $376,951.32. This represents a 11.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John R. Crockett III sold 1,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.12, for a total transaction of $52,627.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $359,186.40. The trade was a 12.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 10,633 shares of company stock worth $346,657. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

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.