Opal Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Opal Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,797 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 305 shares during the period. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $221,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPL. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 85.7% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 111,288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,834,000 after purchasing an additional 51,366 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 2.3% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,260,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $140,935,000 after purchasing an additional 96,491 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 0.9% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,512,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $215,430,000 after purchasing an additional 55,594 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PPL in the third quarter valued at about $1,218,000. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of PPL in the third quarter valued at about $916,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on PPL shares. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup boosted their price objective 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. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of PPL in a research report on Friday, October 25th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective 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. Four equities 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.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.00.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL stock opened at $34.21 on Tuesday. PPL Co. has a one year low of $25.60 and a one year high of $35.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.29. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $32.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.83.

PPL Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 10th were given a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 91.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PPL news, SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 6,639 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.16, for a total transaction of $213,510.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,210 shares in the company, valued at $360,513.60. The trade was a 37.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John R. Crockett III sold 9,161 shares of the business’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 transaction of $314,680.35. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $427,107.90. This represents a 42.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,794 shares of company stock worth $661,338 over the last ninety days. 0.22% of the stock is owned by company 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.