Cwm LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Cwm LLC lowered its stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 27,819 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,657 shares during the quarter. Cwm LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $754,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPL. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of PPL by 13.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,390,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $339,048,000 after purchasing an additional 1,695,726 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in PPL by 13,891.2% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,724,495 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $276,229,000 after buying an additional 11,640,696 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in PPL by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,237,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $217,624,000 after buying an additional 592,279 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of PPL by 0.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,850,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $161,405,000 after acquiring an additional 45,548 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of PPL by 2.2% in the third quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 4,749,317 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $113,044,000 after acquiring an additional 103,734 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Trading Up 1.9 %

PPL opened at $27.53 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $26.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.34. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $20.31 billion, a PE ratio of 27.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.81. PPL Co. has a one year low of $22.20 and a one year high of $29.03.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.45% and a net margin of 8.90%. The company’s revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.28 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.7 EPS for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $0.2575 dividend. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.74%. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. PPL’s payout ratio is 103.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PPL has been the subject of several recent research reports. TheStreet downgraded PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Argus upgraded shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.50.

About PPL

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.