PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Shares Sold by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,228,197 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 18,657 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $33,284,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Savant Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of PPL by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 10,887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. WealthTrust Axiom LLC increased its holdings in shares of PPL by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. WealthTrust Axiom LLC now owns 12,147 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. increased its holdings in shares of PPL by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 11,975 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $325,000 after purchasing an additional 955 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of PPL by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 737,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,985,000 after purchasing an additional 76,974 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of PPL by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 63,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,710,000 after purchasing an additional 1,558 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on PPL. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on PPL from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Argus raised PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 8th. TheStreet lowered PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Barclays increased their price objective on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.27.

PPL Stock Performance

PPL opened at $28.09 on Tuesday. PPL Co. has a 52 week low of $22.20 and a 52 week high of $28.93. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.48. The firm has a market cap 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. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

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. PPL had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 9.29%. The business had revenue of $2.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.48 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.2575 dividend. 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 3.67%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%.

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.