Level Four Advisory Services LLC Grows Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Level Four Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,541 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 771 shares during the quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in PPL. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in PPL by 85.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 111,288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,834,000 after purchasing an additional 51,366 shares in the last quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC raised its position in shares of PPL by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,997,610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $64,842,000 after buying an additional 124,275 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 128.0% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 82,063 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,641,000 after buying an additional 46,071 shares during the period. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC boosted its position in PPL by 24.7% during the third quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 307,773 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,181,000 after acquiring an additional 60,966 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in PPL by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 696,487 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $22,608,000 after acquiring an additional 16,188 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PPL. UBS Group raised their price objective on PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Citigroup raised shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.27.

PPL Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE PPL opened at $36.16 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $34.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. PPL Co. has a 12-month low of $25.93 and a 12-month high of $36.42. The company has a market cap of $26.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.76.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. PPL had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 8.88%. Research analysts anticipate that PPL Co. will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.2725 dividend. 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 3.01%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is 90.08%.

Insider Activity at PPL

In other news, SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 1,424 shares of the firm’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 $47,675.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,259 shares in the company, valued at $376,951.32. This trade represents a 11.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John R. Crockett III sold 1,589 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.12, for a total value of $52,627.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $359,186.40. This represents a 12.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 5,140 shares of company stock valued at $173,005. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

About PPL

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.