DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. Makes New Investment in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,718 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $47,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PPL. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in shares of PPL during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 179.8% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 667 shares during the period. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of PPL during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of PPL in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Stock Performance

NYSE PPL opened at $28.00 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.00, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.81. PPL Co. has a twelve month low of $22.20 and a twelve month high of $28.93. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.45% and a net margin of 8.90%. PPL’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.28 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.7 EPS for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $0.2575 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.68%. This is a boost from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is 103.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PPL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays boosted their price target on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. StockNews.com cut PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Argus upgraded PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.09.

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.