PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Shares Sold by Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. lowered its holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 14,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,007 shares during the quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $383,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of PPL by 13,891.2% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,724,495 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $276,229,000 after buying an additional 11,640,696 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of PPL by 83.5% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 4,269,687 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $115,709,000 after buying an additional 1,943,282 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased 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 buying an additional 1,695,726 shares in the last quarter. Covalis Capital LLP increased its position in shares of PPL by 132.7% in the third quarter. Covalis Capital LLP now owns 1,962,399 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,234,000 after buying an additional 1,118,978 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of PPL by 44.5% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,461,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,813,000 after buying an additional 1,066,268 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PPL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. StockNews.com lowered PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho raised their price target on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. TheStreet lowered PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PPL presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.27.

PPL Stock Performance

NYSE PPL opened at $28.09 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.81. PPL Co. has a 1-year low of $22.20 and a 1-year high of $28.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.45.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 9.29%. PPL’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.48 EPS. Equities analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were given 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.67%. PPL’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

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.