Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Grows Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its position in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 40.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 19,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,613 shares during the period. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE’s holdings in PPL were worth $629,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in PPL by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 91,859,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,981,760,000 after purchasing an additional 750,033 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of PPL by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,459,099 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,215,363,000 after buying an additional 1,720,941 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of PPL by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,089,490 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,160,760,000 after buying an additional 2,050,122 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in PPL by 12.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 34,758,947 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,115,824,000 after purchasing an additional 3,731,412 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 1.2% in the 3rd 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. 76.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at PPL

In other news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 981 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total transaction of $32,843.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total value of $39,857.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 37,167 shares in the company, valued at $1,292,668.26. This trade represents a 2.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,140 shares of company stock worth $173,005. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

PPL Stock Up 2.1 %

PPL stock opened at $35.70 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.76. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.28. PPL Co. has a twelve month low of $25.93 and a twelve month high of $35.97. 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 (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). The business had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.88% and a net margin of 10.49%. As a group, equities analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.05%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.08%.

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.