PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Shares Sold by Geneos Wealth Management Inc.

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 28.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,940 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,555 shares during the quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $107,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter valued at $349,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 238,708 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,469,000 after purchasing an additional 7,040 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 2,647.8% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 155,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,203,000 after purchasing an additional 149,442 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 43,415 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,176,000 after purchasing an additional 3,814 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PPL. StockNews.com lowered PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 24th. TheStreet lowered PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on PPL from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays increased their price objective on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PPL presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.50.

PPL Trading Down 0.8 %

PPL stock opened at $26.43 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of $19.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.43, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.81. PPL Co. has a one year low of $22.20 and a one year high of $29.03. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $26.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.09.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. PPL had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 8.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.28 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a $0.2575 dividend. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 103.00%.

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.