Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC Sells 14,670 Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 67.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 14,670 shares during the period. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $230,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPL. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in PPL in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $273,000. KBC Group NV increased its position in PPL by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 60,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,009,000 after buying an additional 2,817 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its position in PPL by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 23,662 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $783,000 after buying an additional 451 shares during the period. ING Groep NV bought a new position in PPL in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,189,000. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of PPL by 12.8% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 936 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on PPL shares. 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. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on PPL in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup upgraded PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.70.

PPL Price Performance

PPL stock opened at $34.95 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market cap of $25.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.76. The business’s fifty day moving average is $33.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.10. PPL Co. has a 52 week low of $25.93 and a 52 week high of $35.91.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.88% and a net margin of 10.49%. Equities research analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is 90.08%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total value of $39,857.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,292,668.26. This represents a 2.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 6,639 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.16, for a total value of $213,510.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 11,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $360,513.60. This represents a 37.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,779 shares of company stock valued at $386,515 over the last 90 days. 0.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

PPL 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.