Picton Mahoney Asset Management Raises Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 299.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 409,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 306,975 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management’s holdings in PPL were worth $11,093,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of PPL by 55.6% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 3,397 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 1,214 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in shares of PPL by 6.1% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 171,908 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,050,000 after purchasing an additional 9,905 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of PPL during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,390,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $339,048,000 after buying an additional 1,695,726 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in PPL by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,498,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,303,000 after buying an additional 178,898 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on PPL from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. StockNews.com cut PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, TheStreet lowered shares of PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.27.

PPL Price Performance

PPL traded up $0.27 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $28.36. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,697,082 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,978,877. The stock has a market cap of $20.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.81. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $27.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. PPL Co. has a 12 month low of $22.20 and a 12 month high of $28.93.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.02. PPL had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 8.80%. The firm had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $0.2575 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is 100.00%.

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.