Howe & Rusling Inc. Increases Stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Howe & Rusling Inc. increased its holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 9.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,975 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Howe & Rusling Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $487,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of PPL in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Savant Capital LLC boosted its position in PPL by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 10,887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after buying an additional 498 shares during the period. WealthTrust Axiom LLC boosted its position in PPL by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. WealthTrust Axiom LLC now owns 12,147 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 1,170 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in PPL by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 11,975 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $325,000 after buying an additional 955 shares during the period. Finally, Truist Financial Corp boosted its position in PPL by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 737,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,985,000 after buying an additional 76,974 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of PPL stock opened at $28.00 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a 50-day moving average of $26.98 and a 200 day moving average of $26.38. The firm has a market cap of $20.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.00, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.81. PPL Co. has a 1 year low of $22.20 and a 1 year high of $28.93.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. PPL had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 8.45%. PPL’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that PPL Co. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $0.2575 dividend. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.68%. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 103.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on PPL shares. TheStreet cut shares of PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of PPL from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Argus raised shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.09.

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.