Westpac Banking Corp Sells 35,653 Shares of PPL Corporation $PPL

Westpac Banking Corp reduced its position in shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) by 92.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 35,653 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in PPL were worth $109,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. boosted its position in PPL by 13.5% in the third quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 4,336,283 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $161,136,000 after buying an additional 515,523 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of PPL by 905.7% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 523,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,342,000 after buying an additional 471,679 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of PPL by 59.5% in the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 452,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,823,000 after buying an additional 168,818 shares during the period. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA raised its holdings in PPL by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 348,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,199,000 after buying an additional 25,172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY boosted its position in PPL by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 344,670 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,070,000 after buying an additional 18,840 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of PPL from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 11th. Seaport Research Partners set a $42.00 price target on shares of PPL in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Citigroup upped their target price on PPL from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut PPL from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.83.

PPL Stock Performance

PPL stock opened at $35.15 on Friday. PPL Corporation has a 12-month low of $33.17 and a 12-month high of $40.10. The firm has a market cap of $26.44 billion, a PE ratio of 21.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a 50 day moving average of $37.32 and a 200-day moving average of $36.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. PPL had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 9.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that PPL Corporation will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th will be paid a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. PPL’s payout ratio is presently 69.51%.

PPL Company Profile

PPL Corporation is an energy company that owns and operates electric transmission and distribution infrastructure and provides related customer services. The company’s core business centers on delivering electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers through regulated utility operations, maintaining grid reliability, responding to outages and managing customer billing and account services.

PPL’s activities include construction and maintenance of distribution and transmission lines, meter and grid management, and programs to support energy efficiency and the interconnection of distributed resources.