PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Holdings Trimmed by Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC trimmed its holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 0.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 408,807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,606 shares during the quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC owned 0.06% of PPL worth $11,254,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in PPL. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in shares of PPL during the 4th quarter worth $570,789,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter valued at $115,605,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter worth $108,799,000. Electron Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 437.5% during the fourth quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,890,402 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $132,530,000 after buying an additional 3,980,626 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in PPL by 239.8% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,128,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $84,789,000 after buying an additional 2,208,081 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PPL. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on PPL from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 24th. Mizuho lifted their price target on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.36.

PPL Trading Up 0.5 %

PPL traded up $0.13 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $27.54. The stock had a trading volume of 1,737,881 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,834,229. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.28. PPL Co. has a 52 week low of $22.20 and a 52 week high of $29.89. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.35.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.39 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 9.29%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.48 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th were paid a $0.2575 dividend. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

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.