New York State Common Retirement Fund Trims Stock Position in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its position in shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) by 4.9% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 298,051 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 15,200 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in PPL were worth $10,763,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PPL. Norinchukin Bank The grew its holdings in PPL by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Norinchukin Bank The now owns 28,002 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $909,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 5.0% during the first quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 6,953 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $251,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of PPL by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,930 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $192,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its holdings in PPL by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 30,367 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its holdings in PPL by 141.0% during the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 423 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group raised their price target on PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $36.70.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 1,767 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.98, for a total value of $61,809.66. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 45,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,591,065.30. The trade was a 3.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL stock opened at $35.98 on Friday. PPL Corporation has a 12 month low of $28.49 and a 12 month high of $36.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.33.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.07. PPL had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 9.14%. The company had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.15 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.54 EPS. PPL’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that PPL Corporation will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is 80.74%.

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.