Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC Invests $719,000 in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 21,741 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $719,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 496,165 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,719,000 after acquiring an additional 39,513 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,572,771 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted 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 worth $57,153,000 after buying an additional 188,160 shares in the last quarter. Sagefield Capital LP lifted its holdings in PPL by 70.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 138,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,839,000 after buying an additional 57,569 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in PPL by 49.8% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 125,153 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,460,000 after buying an additional 41,609 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on PPL shares. Bank of America upped their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of PPL in a research report on Friday, October 25th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $37.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of PPL from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of PPL in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.50.

PPL Price Performance

PPL stock opened at $33.70 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $32.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.45. PPL Co. has a 1 year low of $25.35 and a 1 year high of $33.75. 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 stock has a market cap of $24.87 billion, a PE ratio of 30.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.81.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.43 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

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

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.