Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 18,183 Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio reduced its position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 270,757 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 18,183 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in PPL were worth $8,789,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vise Technologies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 11,472 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $372,000 after acquiring an additional 2,674 shares during the period. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. now owns 27,503 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $893,000 after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in shares of PPL during the fourth quarter valued at $1,439,000. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 15,398 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $500,000 after acquiring an additional 2,696 shares during the period. Finally, Sagefield Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 68.5% during the fourth quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 249,550 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,100,000 after acquiring an additional 101,482 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PPL. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim lifted their price target on PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Citigroup raised PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $36.90.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PPL opened at $34.67 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.70. PPL Co. has a 1-year low of $27.24 and a 1-year high of $36.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $35.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.13.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.15 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.88% and a net margin of 10.49%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. Equities analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be given a $0.2725 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is 80.74%.

Insider Activity at PPL

In related news, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total value of $39,857.88. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,167 shares in the company, valued at $1,292,668.26. This trade represents a 2.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.