PPL (NYSE:PPL) CFO Ashley Johnson Sells 75,035 Shares of Stock

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) CFO Ashley Johnson sold 75,035 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.08, for a total transaction of $1,656,772.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 1,132,122 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,997,253.76. The trade was a 6.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

PPL Price Performance

NYSE:PPL traded down $0.05 on Friday, reaching $36.19. 13,416,092 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,838,639. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.82. The firm has a market cap of $27.23 billion, a PE ratio of 22.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.57. PPL Corporation has a 12 month low of $33.17 and a 12 month high of $40.10.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.02. PPL had a return on equity of 9.41% and a net margin of 13.09%.The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that PPL Corporation will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th were issued a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. PPL’s payout ratio is 69.51%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PPL

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. boosted its position in PPL by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 4,424,814 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $154,957,000 after buying an additional 88,531 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in PPL by 905.7% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 523,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,342,000 after acquiring an additional 471,679 shares in the last quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA raised its position in PPL by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 348,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,199,000 after acquiring an additional 25,172 shares in the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY lifted its holdings in PPL by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 344,670 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,070,000 after acquiring an additional 18,840 shares during the period. Finally, State of Tennessee Department of Treasury lifted its holdings in PPL by 3.8% in the second quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 249,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,446,000 after acquiring an additional 9,118 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PPL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Mizuho upgraded PPL to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 3rd. Seaport Research Partners set a $42.00 price target on shares of PPL in a report on Monday, April 20th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of PPL from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of PPL in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of PPL from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.67.

About PPL

PPL Corporation is an energy company that owns and operates electric transmission and distribution infrastructure and provides related customer services. The company’s core business centers on delivering electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers through regulated utility operations, maintaining grid reliability, responding to outages and managing customer billing and account services.

PPL’s activities include construction and maintenance of distribution and transmission lines, meter and grid management, and programs to support energy efficiency and the interconnection of distributed resources.