Strs Ohio Decreases Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Strs Ohio reduced its position in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 13.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72,399 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 11,328 shares during the period. Strs Ohio’s holdings in PPL were worth $1,962,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PPL. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in PPL during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PPL during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of PPL by 179.8% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PPL. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Bank of America increased their price target on PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com lowered PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on PPL from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Argus raised shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.50.

PPL Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of PPL stock opened at $27.02 on Friday. PPL Co. has a 1-year low of $22.20 and a 1-year high of $29.03. The firm has a market cap of $19.93 billion, a PE ratio of 27.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a 50-day moving average of $26.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

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

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.81%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.