Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 203,755 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,467 shares during the quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $6,775,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new stake in PPL during the second quarter worth about $1,302,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of PPL by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,751 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $297,000 after buying an additional 735 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of PPL by 25.3% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,890,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $162,882,000 after buying an additional 1,189,339 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PPL during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,619,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in PPL in the second quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on PPL in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of PPL from $31.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of PPL from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of PPL from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.00.

Insider Activity at PPL

In other news, SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 6,639 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.16, for a total value of $213,510.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $360,513.60. The trade was a 37.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John R. Crockett III sold 9,161 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.35, for a total value of $314,680.35. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,434 shares in the company, valued at $427,107.90. This represents a 42.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

PPL Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE:PPL opened at $32.85 on Wednesday. PPL Co. has a 52 week low of $25.35 and a 52 week high of $35.15. The company’s 50 day moving average is $33.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.16. The company has a market cap of $24.24 billion, a PE ratio of 29.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.42. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.10 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 9.95%. PPL’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.43 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 10th. PPL’s payout ratio is 91.97%.

PPL 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.