Kristen Robinson Sells 37,107 Shares of PPL (NYSE:PPL) Stock

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) Director Kristen Robinson sold 37,107 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.05, for a total value of $929,530.35. Following the transaction, the director owned 222,897 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,583,569.85. This represents a 14.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

PPL Trading Down 1.5%

PPL opened at $35.83 on Friday. PPL Corporation has a one year low of $33.17 and a one year high of $40.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.85, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.57.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. PPL had a return on equity of 9.41% and a net margin of 13.09%.The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that PPL Corporation will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 10th were issued a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. PPL’s payout ratio is 69.51%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PPL

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 4,424,814 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $154,957,000 after buying an additional 88,531 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in PPL by 905.7% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 523,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,342,000 after acquiring an additional 471,679 shares in the last quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA grew its holdings in PPL by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 348,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,199,000 after purchasing an additional 25,172 shares during the period. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its stake in shares of PPL by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 344,670 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,070,000 after purchasing an additional 18,840 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Tennessee Department of Treasury increased its stake in shares of PPL by 3.8% during the second quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 249,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,446,000 after purchasing an additional 9,118 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on PPL shares. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Mizuho upgraded shares of PPL to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 3rd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of PPL from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Seaport Research Partners set a $42.00 target price on PPL in a report on Monday, April 20th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.92.

About PPL

PPL Corporation is an energy company that owns and operates electric transmission and distribution infrastructure and provides related customer services. The company’s core business centers on delivering electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers through regulated utility operations, maintaining grid reliability, responding to outages and managing customer billing and account services.

PPL’s activities include construction and maintenance of distribution and transmission lines, meter and grid management, and programs to support energy efficiency and the interconnection of distributed resources.