Park Place Capital Corp Trims Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Park Place Capital Corp lessened its position in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 22.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,924 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,561 shares during the quarter. Park Place Capital Corp’s holdings in PPL were worth $247,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PPL. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 55.6% in the fourth 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. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 5.6% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 884,838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,590,000 after acquiring an additional 46,552 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 7.5% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 866,256 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $23,848,000 after acquiring an additional 60,589 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in PPL by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 86,593 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,348,000 after buying an additional 4,416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in PPL by 52.1% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 154,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,197,000 after buying an additional 52,870 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Trading Down 2.1 %

PPL traded down $0.65 during trading on Monday, hitting $29.99. 4,380,611 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,870,917. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.57. The firm has a market cap of $22.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.81. PPL Co. has a 1 year low of $22.20 and a 1 year high of $31.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.28.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 9.29%. PPL’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.29 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2575 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.43%. PPL’s payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Mizuho increased their price target on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on PPL from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on PPL from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.64.

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.