PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Stock Position Lifted by M&T Bank Corp

M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 82,681 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 483 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in PPL were worth $2,735,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its holdings in PPL by 9.4% in the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 2,019,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $66,792,000 after purchasing an additional 173,980 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its holdings in shares of PPL by 2.6% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 288,940 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,558,000 after purchasing an additional 7,315 shares during the period. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA lifted its position in shares of PPL by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 161,585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,345,000 after buying an additional 13,659 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 104,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,443,000 after buying an additional 7,860 shares during the period. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of PPL by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 12,703 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $420,000 after buying an additional 1,228 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on PPL shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on PPL from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays raised their target price on PPL from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of PPL in a research report on Wednesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 price target for the company. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of PPL from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of PPL in a research note on Friday, October 25th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $37.00 target price for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.09.

PPL Stock Performance

PPL opened at $32.29 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $33.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The company has a market capitalization of $23.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.82. PPL Co. has a 1-year low of $25.35 and a 1-year high of $35.15.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.42. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.10 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 9.95%. The company’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.43 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be issued a $0.2575 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.19%. PPL’s payout ratio is currently 91.96%.

Insider Activity at PPL

In other PPL news, insider John R. Crockett III sold 9,161 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.35, for a total value of $314,680.35. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $427,107.90. This represents a 42.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

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.