Cwm LLC Sells 1,657 Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Cwm LLC decreased its holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,819 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,657 shares during the period. Cwm LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $754,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its position in PPL by 6.1% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in PPL during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new stake in PPL during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,412,000. FMR LLC increased its stake 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in PPL by 13.6% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,498,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,303,000 after buying an additional 178,898 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on PPL shares. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Argus upgraded PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Barclays increased their price objective on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on PPL from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.50.

PPL Trading Up 1.9 %

PPL stock opened at $27.53 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.34. PPL Co. has a 52-week low of $22.20 and a 52-week high of $29.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The company has a market cap of $20.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.81.

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

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $0.2575 dividend. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.74%. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is 103.00%.

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.