ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Value Equity Strategy” fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The strategy outperformed the Russell 1000 Value Index in the fourth quarter. On an absolute basis, the strategy has gained ten out of eleven sectors in which it was invested during the quarter. The financials and industrials sectors were the leading contributors while the energy sector detracted. Overall stock selection contributed to returns but sector allocation effects detracted on a relative basis. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
ClearBridge Value Equity Strategy featured stocks like PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) in the fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania, PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) is an energy company. On March 21, 2024, PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) stock closed at $27.00 per share. One-month return of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) was 1.44%, and its shares gained 1.51% of their value over the last 52 weeks. PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) has a market capitalization of $20.048 billion.
ClearBridge Value Equity Strategy stated the following regarding PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
“We also added PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL), another utility, which provides electricity and natural gas to 3.5 million customers in eastern U.S. PPL is an excellent example of everything we were looking for when defensive stocks got hit in October: a constructive regulatory regime, a good balance sheet and a favorable earnings growth outlook. With the stock down almost 30% from early 2023 highs, we were able to buy the stock at a low-teens earnings multiple with roughly 30% upside to our estimate of fair value. As such, we think this is a compelling entry point for this defensive, bond proxy stock.”
An aerial view of a utility service territory, with transmission lines and substations.
PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. At the end of the fourth quarter, PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) was held by 28 hedge fund portfolios, compared to 32 in the previous quarter, according to our database. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2023 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
