Tower Bridge Advisors Sells 932 Shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL)

Tower Bridge Advisors reduced its position in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) by 11.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 932 shares during the quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors’ holdings in PPL were worth $262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in PPL by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 27,465,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $891,532,000 after acquiring an additional 3,380,745 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,677,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $572,300,000 after purchasing an additional 500,058 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,672,428 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $411,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,371,000 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of PPL by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,570,225 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $278,190,000 after purchasing an additional 468,789 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PPL by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 7,998,199 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $288,815,000 after buying an additional 109,160 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PPL Stock Down 0.4%

NYSE:PPL opened at $36.04 on Thursday. PPL Corporation has a one year low of $29.60 and a one year high of $36.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The company has a market cap of $26.64 billion, a PE ratio of 26.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.56.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.07. PPL had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 9.14%. The company had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.54 earnings per share. PPL’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that PPL Corporation will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 10th. PPL’s payout ratio is presently 80.74%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on PPL shares. Barclays upgraded PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $36.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 2,165 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.86, for a total value of $77,636.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 45,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,633,781.60. This represents a 4.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

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.