Park Avenue Securities LLC Sells 538 Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Park Avenue Securities LLC decreased its stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 3.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 538 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PPL. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in PPL during the 4th quarter worth $570,789,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in PPL during the fourth quarter worth about $115,605,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in PPL in the 4th quarter worth about $108,799,000. Electron Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in PPL by 437.5% in the 4th quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,890,402 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $132,530,000 after buying an additional 3,980,626 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of PPL by 239.8% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,128,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $84,789,000 after buying an additional 2,208,081 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PPL. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on PPL from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PPL has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.36.

PPL Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of PPL stock opened at $27.65 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.84, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.82. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.31. PPL Co. has a 1 year low of $22.20 and a 1 year high of $29.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 9.29%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.48 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that PPL Co. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.