abrdn plc Sells 50,559 Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

abrdn plc lessened its stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 605,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 50,559 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc owned approximately 0.08% of PPL worth $16,406,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of PPL by 6.1% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 171,908 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,050,000 after purchasing an additional 9,905 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in PPL in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in PPL in the third quarter valued at $2,412,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in 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 during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in PPL by 13.6% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,498,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,303,000 after buying an additional 178,898 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Stock Up 0.5 %

PPL stock opened at $27.37 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $26.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.25. PPL Co. has a twelve month low of $22.20 and a twelve month high of $29.03.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. PPL had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 8.45%. PPL’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.28 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.7 EPS for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.76%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 103.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PPL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of PPL from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Argus upgraded shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, March 8th. TheStreet lowered shares of PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.50.

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.