Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Has $43.82 Million Holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board trimmed its position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 20.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,350,056 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 345,524 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned approximately 0.18% of PPL worth $43,823,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co purchased a new position in shares of PPL during the third quarter valued at $225,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 32.3% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 41,169 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,362,000 after buying an additional 10,043 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in PPL by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 16,114 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $533,000 after acquiring an additional 1,710 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in PPL by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 34,758,947 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,115,824,000 after purchasing an additional 3,731,412 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of PPL by 6.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 882,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,192,000 after acquiring an additional 52,547 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at PPL

In other PPL news, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total transaction of $39,857.88. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,292,668.26. The trade was a 2.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 981 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total value of $32,843.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 45,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,520,460.72. This trade represents a 2.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,140 shares of company stock valued at $173,005 over the last 90 days. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PPL. Barclays lifted their target price on PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Citigroup raised shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group increased their target price on PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.70.

PPL Stock Up 1.1 %

PPL stock opened at $35.67 on Friday. PPL Co. has a fifty-two week low of $26.68 and a fifty-two week high of $36.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.48, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.65. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.57.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.03). PPL had a return on equity of 8.88% and a net margin of 10.49%. The business had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that PPL Co. will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.2725 dividend. This is a boost from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.06%. PPL’s payout ratio is presently 90.08%.

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.