PPL Corporation $PPL Stake Lowered by Cohen & Steers Inc.

Cohen & Steers Inc. reduced its stake in shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) by 31.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,851,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,236,672 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. owned 0.66% of PPL worth $169,915,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 4,424,814 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $154,957,000 after acquiring an additional 88,531 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 905.7% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 523,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,342,000 after acquiring an additional 471,679 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 59.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 452,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,823,000 after acquiring an additional 168,818 shares in the last quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 348,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,199,000 after acquiring an additional 25,172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its stake in shares of PPL by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 344,670 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,070,000 after purchasing an additional 18,840 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL opened at $35.80 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $37.05 and its 200-day moving average is $36.56. PPL Corporation has a 12 month low of $33.17 and a 12 month high of $40.10. The firm has a market cap of $26.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.02. PPL had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 9.41%. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. PPL’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that PPL Corporation will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 10th will be paid a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date is 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 presently 69.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of PPL from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 5th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating on shares of PPL in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Seaport Research Partners set a $42.00 price target on shares of PPL in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of PPL from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of PPL from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.50.

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.