Mariner LLC Increases Holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Mariner LLC grew its stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL - Free Report) by 420.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 375,087 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 302,999 shares during the period. Mariner LLC owned 0.05% of PPL worth $12,175,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its stake in PPL by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 12,703 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $420,000 after acquiring an additional 1,228 shares during the last quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co acquired a new position in shares of PPL in the third quarter valued at about $225,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its stake in shares of PPL by 32.3% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 41,169 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,362,000 after purchasing an additional 10,043 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 11.9% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 16,114 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $533,000 after purchasing an additional 1,710 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in PPL by 12.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 34,758,947 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,115,824,000 after buying an additional 3,731,412 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on PPL shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays increased their price target on PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Citigroup raised PPL from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $35.70.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of PPL stock traded down $0.34 on Monday, reaching $35.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 13,212,428 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,861,687. 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 company has a market capitalization of $26.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.24, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $34.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.57. PPL Co. has a 52-week low of $26.79 and a 52-week high of $36.64.

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.88% and a net margin of 10.49%. Analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This is a positive change from PPL's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. PPL's payout ratio is 90.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPL

In other PPL news, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of PPL 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 sale, the insider now owns 37,167 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,292,668.26. The trade was a 2.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John R. Crockett III sold 1,589 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.12, for a total transaction of $52,627.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,845 shares of the company's stock, valued at $359,186.40. This trade represents a 12.78 % 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 insiders.

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.