KCM Investment Advisors LLC Has $3.03 Million Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

KCM Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 91,486 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,631 shares during the quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $3,026,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in PPL by 8.7% during the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 496,165 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,719,000 after buying an additional 39,513 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in PPL by 50.3% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,701,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $129,433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,572,771 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in PPL by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,067,018 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,153,000 after purchasing an additional 188,160 shares in the last quarter. Sagefield Capital LP raised its position in PPL by 70.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 138,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,839,000 after purchasing an additional 57,569 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in PPL by 49.8% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 125,153 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,460,000 after purchasing an additional 41,609 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on PPL in a report on Friday, October 25th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of PPL from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on PPL from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PPL currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.50.

PPL Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE PPL opened at $33.72 on Friday. PPL Co. has a 12 month low of $25.35 and a 12 month high of $33.75. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The company has a market capitalization of $24.88 billion, a PE ratio of 30.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.81.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released 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. PPL had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 9.95%. The business 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 business posted $0.43 EPS. PPL’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 10th were given a $0.2575 dividend. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is currently 91.97%.

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.