Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. Decreases Holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lowered its stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPLFree Report) by 7.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 827 shares during the period. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $361,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in PPL by 91.3% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,821,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $160,977,000 after buying an additional 2,778,820 shares in the last quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in PPL by 71.3% in the 2nd quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,306,007 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $119,061,000 after purchasing an additional 1,792,200 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in PPL by 50.3% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,701,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572,771 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. purchased a new position in PPL in the 1st quarter valued at $31,713,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in PPL by 5,390.2% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 563,015 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,625,000 after purchasing an additional 552,760 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PPL has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of PPL from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on PPL in a research report on Friday, October 25th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. Bank of America lifted their price objective on PPL from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on PPL from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, PPL currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.50.

Read Our Latest Report on PPL

PPL Trading Up 1.9 %

PPL traded up $0.60 on Monday, hitting $32.16. The company had a trading volume of 6,079,116 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,808,932. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market cap of $23.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.68, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.81. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $32.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.06. PPL Co. has a 1 year low of $24.93 and a 1 year high of $33.38.

PPL (NYSE:PPLGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.03. PPL had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 9.26%. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th were paid a $0.2575 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. PPL’s payout ratio is presently 90.35%.

PPL Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

See Also

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for PPL (NYSE:PPL)

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