PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Shares Sold by Point72 Asset Management L.P.

Point72 Asset Management L.P. lessened its holdings in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 11.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,655,060 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 698,794 shares during the quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in PPL were worth $153,252,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PPL by 55.6% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 3,397 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $92,000 after acquiring an additional 1,214 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of PPL by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 171,908 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,050,000 after acquiring an additional 9,905 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of PPL during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of PPL by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,390,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $339,048,000 after acquiring an additional 1,695,726 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of PPL by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,498,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,303,000 after acquiring an additional 178,898 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Argus upgraded PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, March 8th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. TheStreet lowered shares of PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PPL currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.45.

PPL Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:PPL traded up $0.20 on Tuesday, reaching $28.36. 4,245,922 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,957,777. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a fifty day moving average of $28.12 and a 200-day moving average of $27.16. PPL Co. has a 52-week low of $22.20 and a 52-week high of $29.89.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.02. PPL had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 8.80%. The company had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

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.