Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lessened its position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 12.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 158,191 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 22,174 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $4,287,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PPL. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its position in PPL by 432.3% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 383,445 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,391,000 after purchasing an additional 311,408 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in PPL by 55.6% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 3,397 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 1,214 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its holdings in PPL by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 11,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 1,078 shares during the period. Howe & Rusling Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 17,975 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $487,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Finally, DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of PPL during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. TheStreet downgraded PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Argus raised shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PPL currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.27.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL opened at $28.09 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $20.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.81. PPL Co. has a 12 month low of $22.20 and a 12 month high of $28.93.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.02. PPL had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 8.80%. The company had revenue of $2.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.48 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that PPL Co. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%.

About PPL

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.