27,477 Shares in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) Purchased by Heartland Bank & Trust Co

Heartland Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 27,477 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $992,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PPL in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in PPL in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in PPL by 84.5% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its position in shares of PPL by 121.4% during the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 867 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of PPL by 69.0% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,072 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 846 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on PPL from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their target price on PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Three 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PPL presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $36.80.

Insider Activity at PPL

In other news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 1,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.98, for a total transaction of $61,809.66. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 45,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,591,065.30. This trade represents a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

PPL Stock Up 0.5%

PPL opened at $33.75 on Friday. PPL Corporation has a 1-year low of $27.24 and a 1-year high of $36.70. The business has a 50 day moving average of $34.91 and a 200-day moving average of $34.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.65. 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 (NYSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.15 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 9.14% and a net margin of 11.49%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that PPL Corporation will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2725 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.74%.

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.