Mackenzie Financial Corp Sells 3,948 Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Mackenzie Financial Corp trimmed its position in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 6.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 62,399 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,948 shares during the quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp’s holdings in PPL were worth $1,691,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in PPL by 179.8% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 667 shares in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in PPL during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in PPL during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in PPL during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its position in PPL by 138.9% during the 4th quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,371 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 797 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PPL. 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on PPL from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. 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. Bank of America boosted their price target on PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com cut PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PPL currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.50.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PPL opened at $27.24 on Wednesday. PPL Co. has a twelve month low of $22.20 and a twelve month high of $29.03. The firm has a market cap of $20.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.24, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a 50 day moving average of $26.86 and a 200 day moving average of $26.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. PPL had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 8.45%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $0.2575 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.78%. PPL’s payout ratio is currently 103.00%.

PPL 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.