Icon Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 16,069 Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Icon Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 61.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,056 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,069 shares during the period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $1,391,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of PPL by 0.9% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,512,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $215,430,000 after purchasing an additional 55,594 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in PPL by 25.3% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,890,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $162,882,000 after buying an additional 1,189,339 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 91.3% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,821,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $160,977,000 after buying an additional 2,778,820 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 0.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,766,887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $157,689,000 after buying an additional 35,317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Electron Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of PPL by 71.3% during the second quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,306,007 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $119,061,000 after acquiring an additional 1,792,200 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on PPL from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays lifted their target price on PPL from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on PPL in a research report on Friday, October 25th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on PPL from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of PPL in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PPL presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.50.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL stock opened at $34.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market cap of $25.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.81. PPL Co. has a 52 week low of $25.35 and a 52 week high of $35.15. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.86.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42. PPL had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 9.20%. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. PPL’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be paid a $0.2575 dividend. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is currently 91.97%.

Insider Activity at PPL

In other PPL news, insider John R. Crockett III sold 9,161 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.35, for a total transaction of $314,680.35. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,434 shares in the company, valued at $427,107.90. This represents a 42.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.