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

Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lowered its stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) 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.

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:PPL) 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

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.