Tadd J. Henninger Sells 6,639 Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Stock

PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 6,639 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.16, for a total transaction of $213,510.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,210 shares in the company, valued at $360,513.60. The trade was a 37.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of PPL stock traded down $0.67 on Wednesday, hitting $31.59. 4,363,485 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,833,466. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.23. PPL Co. has a 52 week low of $25.35 and a 52 week high of $35.15. The firm has a market cap of $23.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.21, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion during 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be paid a $0.2575 dividend. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 10th. PPL’s payout ratio is 91.96%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PPL has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on PPL from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on PPL in a research note on Friday, October 25th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $37.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on PPL from $31.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on PPL in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 price target for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PPL has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.09.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PPL

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of PPL. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of PPL by 12.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 34,758,947 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,115,824,000 after acquiring an additional 3,731,412 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in PPL by 91.3% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,821,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $160,977,000 after purchasing an additional 2,778,820 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in PPL by 6.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,089,490 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,160,760,000 after purchasing an additional 2,050,122 shares during the last quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of PPL by 71.3% during the second quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,306,007 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $119,061,000 after buying an additional 1,792,200 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of PPL by 5.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,459,099 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,215,363,000 after buying an additional 1,720,941 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

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.