Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. Takes $3.79 Million Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. purchased a new stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 139,784 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,788,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in PPL during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in PPL by 179.8% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in PPL during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in PPL during the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new position in PPL during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on PPL shares. Bank of America upped their price objective on PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com upgraded PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays boosted their price target on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PPL presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.27.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of PPL stock traded down $0.10 during trading on Friday, hitting $28.68. The stock had a trading volume of 3,089,303 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,316,911. PPL Co. has a fifty-two week low of $22.20 and a fifty-two week high of $29.89. The firm has a market cap of $21.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.84, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The business has a fifty day moving average of $27.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.92.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.02. PPL had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 9.29%. The business had revenue of $2.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.48 earnings per share. PPL’s revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is 100.00%.

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.