Strategic Investment Advisors MI Acquires 25,382 Shares of PPL Corporation $PPL

Strategic Investment Advisors MI grew its holdings in shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) by 256.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 35,277 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,382 shares during the quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI’s holdings in PPL were worth $1,348,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PPL. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its position in PPL by 293.8% in the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares during the period. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in PPL in the fourth quarter worth $48,000. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in PPL by 72.5% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,587 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $99,000 after buying an additional 1,087 shares during the period. Rossby Financial LCC boosted its position in PPL by 70.0% during the fourth quarter. Rossby Financial LCC now owns 3,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $105,000 after buying an additional 1,240 shares during the period. Finally, First United Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in PPL during the fourth quarter valued at about $107,000. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PPL news, CFO Ashley F. Johnson sold 34,993 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.08, for a total transaction of $772,645.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 561,482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,397,522.56. This represents a 5.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kristen Robinson sold 37,107 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.05, for a total value of $929,530.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 222,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,583,569.85. This trade represents a 14.27% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings cut PPL from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on PPL from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Mizuho upgraded PPL to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on PPL from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PPL has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.67.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of PPL stock opened at $35.54 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.86. PPL Corporation has a 12-month low of $33.17 and a 12-month high of $40.10. The firm has a market cap of $26.74 billion, a PE ratio of 21.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. PPL had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 9.41%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that PPL Corporation will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 10th were issued a dividend of $0.285 per share. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 10th. PPL’s payout ratio is currently 69.51%.

About PPL

PPL Corporation is an energy company that owns and operates electric transmission and distribution infrastructure and provides related customer services. The company’s core business centers on delivering electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers through regulated utility operations, maintaining grid reliability, responding to outages and managing customer billing and account services.

PPL’s activities include construction and maintenance of distribution and transmission lines, meter and grid management, and programs to support energy efficiency and the interconnection of distributed resources.