Wells Fargo & Company MN Acquires 68,241 Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL - Free Report) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,819,602 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 68,241 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned about 0.38% of PPL worth $91,524,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Kentucky Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of PPL during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in PPL during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its position in PPL by 1,092.2% in the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 1,216 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,114 shares during the period. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of PPL by 84.5% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,264 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 981 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total transaction of $32,843.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 45,414 shares in the company, valued at $1,520,460.72. This represents a 2.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John R. Crockett III sold 1,589 shares of PPL stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.12, for a total value of $52,627.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,845 shares in the company, 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 a total of 5,140 shares of company stock valued at $173,005 over the last quarter. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PPL traded up $0.55 on Friday, hitting $34.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,405,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,817,597. The company has a market capitalization of $25.68 billion, a PE ratio of 28.72, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.49. PPL Co. has a 1 year low of $25.93 and a 1 year high of $36.64.

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

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.2725 dividend. This is an increase from PPL's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. PPL's payout ratio is presently 90.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on PPL shares. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Citigroup upgraded shares of PPL from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $35.70.

About PPL

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.