PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Shares Sold by BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lowered its stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 12.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 123,074 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 18,213 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in PPL were worth $4,071,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its position in shares of PPL by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 496,165 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,719,000 after acquiring an additional 39,513 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in PPL by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,260,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $140,935,000 after purchasing an additional 96,491 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of PPL by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,512,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $215,430,000 after buying an additional 55,594 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of PPL by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,067,018 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,153,000 after buying an additional 188,160 shares during the period. Finally, DRW Securities LLC acquired a new position in PPL in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,218,000. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on PPL. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on PPL in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of PPL from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of PPL from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, PPL presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.50.

PPL Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:PPL opened at $34.25 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $33.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. PPL Co. has a 12-month low of $25.35 and a 12-month high of $35.15. The firm has a market cap of $25.28 billion, a PE ratio of 30.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.82.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42. PPL had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 9.20%. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.43 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that PPL Co. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2575 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.01%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is currently 91.97%.

Insider Activity

In other PPL news, insider John R. Crockett III sold 9,161 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.35, for a total value of $314,680.35. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,434 shares in the company, valued at $427,107.90. This represents a 42.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

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.