Fidelis Capital Partners LLC Takes $203,000 Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 6,009 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $221,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in shares of PPL by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 16,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $529,000 after buying an additional 4,323 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of PPL by 75.6% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,658 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 1,144 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC raised its position in shares of PPL by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 9,043 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $294,000 after buying an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of PPL by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 5,081 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $165,000 after buying an additional 558 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of PPL in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of PPL from $31.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, PPL has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.27.

PPL Price Performance

PPL opened at $34.57 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. PPL Co. has a 52-week low of $25.93 and a 52-week high of $35.91. The company has a 50 day moving average of $33.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.96. The company has a market cap of $25.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.76.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.03). PPL had a return on equity of 8.88% and a net margin of 10.49%. The business had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.09 billion. On average, analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. PPL’s payout ratio is currently 90.08%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 981 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total value of $32,843.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 45,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,520,460.72. This represents a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 6,639 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.16, for a total transaction of $213,510.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $360,513.60. This trade represents a 37.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 11,779 shares of company stock worth $386,515. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.