PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Shares Sold by SlateStone Wealth LLC

SlateStone Wealth LLC cut its position in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 442 shares during the period. SlateStone Wealth LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $277,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in PPL by 6.1% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 171,908 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,050,000 after buying an additional 9,905 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in PPL during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new stake in PPL during the third quarter valued at about $2,412,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in PPL by 13.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,390,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $339,048,000 after buying an additional 1,695,726 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in PPL by 13.6% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,498,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,303,000 after buying an additional 178,898 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PPL Stock Up 0.0 %

NYSE:PPL traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $27.38. The stock had a trading volume of 1,652,135 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,940,172. The business’s 50 day moving average is $26.84 and its 200 day moving average is $26.22. PPL Co. has a fifty-two week low of $22.20 and a fifty-two week high of $29.03. The stock has a market cap of $20.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.38, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

PPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TheStreet lowered shares of PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Argus upgraded PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, March 8th. StockNews.com downgraded PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 24th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.