Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Has $45.41 Million Holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lowered its stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,399,052 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,577 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS owned approximately 0.19% of PPL worth $45,413,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PPL. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in PPL by 85.7% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 111,288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,834,000 after purchasing an additional 51,366 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of PPL by 2.3% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,260,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $140,935,000 after purchasing an additional 96,491 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,512,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $215,430,000 after buying an additional 55,594 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of PPL in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,218,000. Finally, Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC raised its stake in PPL by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,997,610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $64,842,000 after buying an additional 124,275 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 1,424 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total value of $47,675.52. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $376,951.32. This represents a 11.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John R. Crockett III sold 1,589 shares of PPL stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.12, for a total value of $52,627.68. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $359,186.40. The trade was a 12.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 5,140 shares of company stock valued at $173,005. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

PPL Trading Up 0.5 %

PPL stock opened at $35.01 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $25.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $33.87 and a 200-day moving average of $33.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.71. PPL Co. has a one year low of $25.93 and a one year high of $35.91.

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

PPL Increases Dividend

The company 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 represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.11%. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. PPL’s payout ratio is presently 90.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on PPL. Citigroup raised PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Barclays boosted their price objective on PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of PPL in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.70.

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.