PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Stock Holdings Decreased by Fmr LLC

Fmr LLC lessened its position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 34.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,232,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,275,109 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $202,291,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of PPL by 10.7% in the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 12,703 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $420,000 after buying an additional 1,228 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in PPL by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 104,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,443,000 after acquiring an additional 7,860 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in PPL by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 82,681 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,735,000 after acquiring an additional 483 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in PPL during the 3rd quarter worth about $262,000. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank grew its stake in PPL by 82.1% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 402,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,326,000 after acquiring an additional 181,627 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on PPL. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup raised shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Four investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PPL has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.70.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPL

In related news, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 37,167 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 1,424 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total value of $47,675.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $376,951.32. This represents a 11.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,140 shares of company stock worth $173,005 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

PPL Stock Performance

PPL opened at $34.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $25.68 billion, a PE ratio of 28.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $34.59 and a 200-day moving average of $33.48. PPL Co. has a 52-week low of $25.93 and a 52-week high of $36.64.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.03). PPL had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 8.88%. The company had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. PPL’s payout ratio is currently 90.08%.

PPL 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.