Icon Wealth Advisors LLC Reduces Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Icon Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 23.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 19,844 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,143 shares during the quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $656,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in PPL by 91.3% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,821,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $160,977,000 after buying an additional 2,778,820 shares in the last quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of PPL by 71.3% during the 2nd quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,306,007 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $119,061,000 after acquiring an additional 1,792,200 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in PPL by 25.3% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,890,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $162,882,000 after acquiring an additional 1,189,339 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in PPL by 5,390.2% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 563,015 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,625,000 after acquiring an additional 552,760 shares during the period. Finally, Yaupon Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in PPL by 83.1% during the first quarter. Yaupon Capital Management LP now owns 1,139,592 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,373,000 after purchasing an additional 517,300 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of PPL in a research note on Friday, October 25th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on PPL in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on PPL from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on PPL from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on PPL from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.50.

PPL Price Performance

PPL stock opened at $34.45 on Friday. PPL Co. has a 52 week low of $25.35 and a 52 week high of $35.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

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

PPL Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2575 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. PPL’s payout ratio is 91.97%.

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.