Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 1,045,852 Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 11.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,396,322 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,045,852 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $281,740,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in PPL by 239.8% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,128,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $84,789,000 after buying an additional 2,208,081 shares during the last quarter. Philadelphia Trust Co. lifted its position in PPL by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Philadelphia Trust Co. now owns 16,851 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $457,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in PPL by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 2,333,666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $63,242,000 after purchasing an additional 85,983 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of PPL during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PPL by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 561,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,204,000 after acquiring an additional 10,376 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on PPL shares. TheStreet downgraded PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Barclays upped their target price on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com upgraded PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on PPL from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.27.

PPL Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE PPL traded down $0.05 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $29.79. The company had a trading volume of 739,890 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,989,023. PPL Co. has a 12-month low of $22.20 and a 12-month high of $29.89. The stock has a market cap of $21.98 billion, a PE ratio of 28.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.81. The business’s 50-day moving average is $27.61 and its 200 day moving average is $26.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.02. PPL had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 9.29%. The company had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.39 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.48 earnings per share. PPL’s revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a $0.2575 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.46%. PPL’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

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.