abrdn plc Decreases Stock Holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

abrdn plc trimmed its stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 605,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 50,559 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in PPL were worth $16,406,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of PPL by 179.8% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in PPL during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in PPL during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in PPL during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its holdings in PPL by 138.9% during the fourth quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,371 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 797 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PPL opened at $27.37 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $26.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.25. PPL Co. has a fifty-two week low of $22.20 and a fifty-two week high of $29.03. The firm has a market cap of $20.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.81.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.28 earnings per share. PPL’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $0.2575 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.76%. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 103.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on PPL shares. StockNews.com raised shares of PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Argus raised shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, March 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of PPL from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.50.

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.