PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Shares Sold by New York Life Investment Management LLC

New York Life Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 104,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 786 shares during the quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $2,842,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PPL. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 13.4% in the third 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 lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $276,229,000 after acquiring an additional 11,640,696 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 0.7% in 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, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in PPL by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,416,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $104,063,000 after purchasing an additional 50,533 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PPL Trading Up 0.6 %

PPL stock opened at $28.09 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.45. PPL Co. has a 52 week low of $22.20 and a 52 week high of $28.93. 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 company has a market cap of $20.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.27, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.81.

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

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a $0.2575 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.67%. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PPL has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on PPL from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America upped their target price on PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. 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 research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Argus raised shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, March 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.27.

About PPL

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.