Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd Purchases New Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 31,417 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,020,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of PPL by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,677,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $572,300,000 after buying an additional 500,058 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in PPL by 85.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 111,288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,834,000 after acquiring an additional 51,366 shares in the last quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC increased its position in PPL by 6.6% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 124,275 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of PPL by 128.0% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 82,063 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,641,000 after purchasing an additional 46,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 16,188 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on PPL shares. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of PPL in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays raised their price objective on PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.27.

PPL Stock Down 4.8 %

PPL stock opened at $34.48 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.46 billion, a PE ratio of 28.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.65. PPL Co. has a 52 week low of $25.93 and a 52 week high of $36.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $34.51 and a 200 day moving average of $33.41.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 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 company had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.2725 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.16%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 981 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 45,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,520,460.72. This trade represents a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total transaction of $39,857.88. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,292,668.26. This represents a 2.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,140 shares of company stock valued at $173,005 over the last quarter. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.