Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 2,177 PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 2,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $71,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPL. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 5.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,459,099 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,215,363,000 after purchasing an additional 1,720,941 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 6.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,089,490 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,160,760,000 after purchasing an additional 2,050,122 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 12.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 34,758,947 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,115,824,000 after purchasing an additional 3,731,412 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 1.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,177,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $566,275,000 after purchasing an additional 201,417 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 0.9% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,512,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $215,430,000 after purchasing an additional 55,594 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at PPL

In other news, insider John R. Crockett III sold 9,161 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.35, for a total transaction of $314,680.35. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $427,107.90. The trade was a 42.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 981 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total transaction of $32,843.88. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 45,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,520,460.72. This trade represents a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,794 shares of company stock valued at $661,338 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of PPL from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Bank of America lifted 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. 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of PPL in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 target price for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.00.

PPL Trading Up 1.3 %

PPL opened at $34.17 on Wednesday. PPL Co. has a 1-year low of $25.87 and a 1-year high of $35.15. 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 cap of $25.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $32.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.64.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.03). PPL had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 9.20%. The company had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. Analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2725 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. PPL’s payout ratio is presently 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.