Insider Selling: PPL (NYSE:PPL) Director Sells $929,530.35 in Stock

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) Director Kristen Robinson sold 37,107 shares of PPL stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.05, for a total transaction of $929,530.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 222,897 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,583,569.85. This trade represents a 14.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PPL opened at $35.83 on Friday. PPL Corporation has a one year low of $33.17 and a one year high of $40.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $35.87 and a 200-day moving average of $36.79. The company has a market capitalization of $26.96 billion, a PE ratio of 21.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.00.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 9.41% and a net margin of 13.09%.The company’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that PPL Corporation will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 10th were paid a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.51%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PPL

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of PPL by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 4,424,814 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $154,957,000 after purchasing an additional 88,531 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in PPL by 905.7% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 523,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,342,000 after purchasing an additional 471,679 shares in the last quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA grew its position in PPL by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 348,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,199,000 after purchasing an additional 25,172 shares in the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its stake in PPL by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 344,670 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,070,000 after buying an additional 18,840 shares during the period. Finally, State of Tennessee Department of Treasury increased its stake in PPL by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 249,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,446,000 after buying an additional 9,118 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of PPL from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of PPL from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 5th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of PPL from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Mizuho upgraded shares of PPL to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PPL currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.92.

About PPL

PPL Corporation is an energy company that owns and operates electric transmission and distribution infrastructure and provides related customer services. The company’s core business centers on delivering electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers through regulated utility operations, maintaining grid reliability, responding to outages and managing customer billing and account services.

PPL’s activities include construction and maintenance of distribution and transmission lines, meter and grid management, and programs to support energy efficiency and the interconnection of distributed resources.