PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Shares Sold by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. lowered its stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 95,315 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,077 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $2,583,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its position in PPL by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,390,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $339,048,000 after purchasing an additional 1,695,726 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in PPL by 13,891.2% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,724,495 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $276,229,000 after acquiring an additional 11,640,696 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in PPL by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,237,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $217,624,000 after acquiring an additional 592,279 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in PPL by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,850,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $161,405,000 after acquiring an additional 45,548 shares during the period. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC boosted its position in PPL by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 4,749,317 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $113,044,000 after acquiring an additional 103,734 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL stock opened at $27.38 on Tuesday. PPL Co. has a 1-year low of $22.20 and a 1-year high of $29.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $20.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.22.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.02. PPL had a return on equity of 8.45% and a net margin of 8.90%. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.28 earnings per share. PPL’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $0.2575 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.76%. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. PPL’s payout ratio is 103.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays boosted their price target on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on PPL from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Argus raised 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. Finally, TheStreet downgraded PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, PPL currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.50.

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.