B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Cuts Stock Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lowered its holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 14.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,382 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,331 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $1,049,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of PPL during the 4th quarter valued at $570,789,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of PPL by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,390,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $339,048,000 after buying an additional 1,695,726 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of PPL by 13,891.2% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,724,495 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $276,229,000 after buying an additional 11,640,696 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of PPL by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 10,396,322 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $281,740,000 after buying an additional 1,045,852 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its position in shares of PPL by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 8,952,615 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $242,616,000 after buying an additional 340,686 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Price Performance

PPL opened at $28.06 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $28.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.24. PPL Co. has a 12-month low of $22.20 and a 12-month high of $29.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.24, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.82.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $2.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.48 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.2575 dividend. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. PPL’s payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PPL. StockNews.com upgraded PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on PPL from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Argus upgraded PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PPL presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.45.

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.