PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Shares Sold by Cwm LLC

Cwm LLC lessened its stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 14.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,031 shares during the period. Cwm LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $655,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PPL by 55.6% during the 4th 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. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in PPL by 6.1% in 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 stake in PPL in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in PPL by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,498,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,303,000 after buying an additional 178,898 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in PPL by 5.4% in the 4th 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PPL. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Barclays boosted their price objective 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. Argus upgraded shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.45.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL stock opened at $27.96 on Friday. PPL Co. has a one year low of $22.20 and a one year high of $29.89. The company has a market cap of $20.63 billion, a PE ratio of 27.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.28. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.25.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.48 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.