Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Lowers Holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 29.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,093,675 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 883,335 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $56,739,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Philadelphia Trust Co. grew its holdings in PPL by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Philadelphia Trust Co. now owns 16,851 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $457,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC increased its holdings in PPL by 0.9% during the third quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 46,833 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,103,000 after buying an additional 415 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in PPL by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 8,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $222,000 after buying an additional 421 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Alliance lifted its holdings in PPL by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 19,792 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $536,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in PPL by 46.7% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PPL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Mizuho boosted their price target on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Barclays raised their price target on shares of PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.45.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of PPL opened at $28.04 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $28.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.22. PPL Co. has a 1-year low of $22.20 and a 1-year high of $29.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.69 billion, a PE ratio of 27.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.82.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. PPL had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 9.29%. The business had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.48 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. PPL’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

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.