Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 19,820 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 333 shares during the quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $716,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPL. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. purchased a new stake in PPL in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $215,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of PPL by 39.6% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 67,306 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,188,000 after purchasing an additional 19,086 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC raised its stake in shares of PPL by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 37,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of PPL by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 36,986 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,201,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Silver Oak Securities Incorporated purchased a new stake in shares of PPL during the fourth quarter worth approximately $206,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at PPL

In related news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 1,767 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.98, for a total transaction of $61,809.66. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 45,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,591,065.30. This trade represents a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group upped their price objective on PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays upped their price objective on PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup raised PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.90.

PPL Stock Down 0.2%

PPL stock opened at $34.04 on Friday. 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 capitalization of $25.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.65. PPL Co. has a fifty-two week low of $27.24 and a fifty-two week high of $36.70. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $35.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.17.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.15 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.88% and a net margin of 10.49%. PPL’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.54 earnings per share. Analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. PPL’s payout ratio is currently 80.74%.

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.