Howe & Rusling Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Howe & Rusling Inc. lowered its holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 8.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 16,475 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,500 shares during the quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $535,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kentucky Trust Co bought a new position in PPL in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in shares of PPL in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 1,092.2% during the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 1,216 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in PPL by 84.5% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Newton One Investments LLC purchased a new position in PPL in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on PPL shares. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup upgraded shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on PPL in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 price target on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPL

In other PPL news, SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 1,424 shares of the business’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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $376,951.32. The trade was a 11.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John R. Crockett III sold 1,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.12, for a total transaction of $52,627.68. Following the sale, the insider now owns 10,845 shares in the company, valued at approximately $359,186.40. This represents a 12.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 5,140 shares of company stock valued at $173,005. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

PPL Stock Up 1.2 %

PPL stock opened at $35.03 on Friday. PPL Co. has a fifty-two week low of $25.93 and a fifty-two week high of $35.91. The company has a market cap of $25.86 billion, a PE ratio of 28.95, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.76. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.26.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.03). PPL had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 8.88%. The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.09 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that PPL Co. will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2725 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.11%. PPL’s payout ratio is currently 90.08%.

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.