Confluence Wealth Services Inc. Cuts Stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. cut its holdings in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 10.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,129 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,681 shares during the quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $417,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PPL. Czech National Bank boosted its position in PPL by 47.6% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 128,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,035,000 after buying an additional 41,574 shares during the period. Bfsg LLC grew its position in PPL by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 21,298 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $502,000 after acquiring an additional 612 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in PPL by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 20,593 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $485,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034 shares during the period. Toews Corp ADV bought a new stake in PPL in the third quarter valued at approximately $756,000. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PPL during the third quarter valued at approximately $614,000. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PPL Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE PPL traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $27.46. 6,292,793 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,942,370. The company has a market cap of $20.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.46, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.81. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $26.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.37. PPL Co. has a 52 week low of $22.20 and a 52 week high of $29.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.88.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. PPL had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 8.45%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.28 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that PPL Co. will post 1.7 EPS for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.75%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 103.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on PPL. TheStreet lowered shares of PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on PPL from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Argus upgraded PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, March 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.50.

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.