Putnam Investments LLC Has $1.45 Million Stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Putnam Investments LLC lowered its stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL – Get Rating) by 21.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 57,330 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 15,840 shares during the quarter. Putnam Investments LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $1,453,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PPL. CI Investments Inc. increased its holdings in PPL by 989.9% during the third quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 881 shares during the last quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in PPL during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its position in PPL by 56.3% during the third quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 1,238 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the period. Wagner Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of PPL in the second quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 70.6% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 556 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PPL. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of PPL from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of PPL to $34.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 14th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of PPL to $33.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 14th. TheStreet downgraded shares of PPL from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 21st. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on PPL from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider David J. Bonenberger sold 29,080 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $872,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 34,606 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,038,180. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

PPL Stock Up 1.9 %

PPL stock opened at $26.76 on Tuesday. PPL Co. has a twelve month low of $23.47 and a twelve month high of $31.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.71 billion, a PE ratio of 25.98 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.20.

PPL (NYSE:PPL – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 17th. The utilities provider reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.28. PPL had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 9.57%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.22 earnings per share. PPL’s revenue was up 54.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.59%. PPL’s payout ratio is presently 93.20%.

PPL Profile

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PPL Corp. engages in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. It operates through the two reportable segments: Kentucky Regulated & Pennsylvania Regulated. The Kentucky Regulated segment consists of LKE’s regulated electricity generation, transmission and distribution operations of Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company as well as regulated distribution and sale of natural gas of Louisville Gas and Electric Company.