Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Has $242,000 Holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 68.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,466 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 15,868 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $242,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PPL. Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new stake in PPL during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of PPL in the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its stake in shares of PPL by 1,092.2% during the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 1,216 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114 shares during the period. Newton One Investments LLC bought a new stake in PPL in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in PPL by 139.2% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,512 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 880 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PPL. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on PPL in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 target price for the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of PPL from $31.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.27.

Insider Activity at PPL

In other news, SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 6,639 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.16, for a total value of $213,510.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $360,513.60. This represents a 37.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total transaction of $39,857.88. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,292,668.26. The trade was a 2.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,779 shares of company stock valued at $386,515. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

PPL Price Performance

PPL stock opened at $34.72 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $33.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.95. PPL Co. has a 1 year low of $25.93 and a 1 year high of $35.91. The stock has a market cap of $25.63 billion, a PE ratio of 28.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.03). PPL had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 8.88%. The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. Equities analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This is a boost from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.08%.

PPL Company 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.