Cohen & Steers Inc. Has $169.92 Million Holdings in PPL Corporation $PPL

Cohen & Steers Inc. cut its position in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) by 31.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,851,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,236,672 shares during the quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $169,915,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PPL. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its stake in PPL by 293.8% in the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 799 shares during the last quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in PPL in the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. Aventura Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in PPL in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Rossby Financial LCC boosted its holdings in PPL by 70.0% in the 4th quarter. Rossby Financial LCC now owns 3,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240 shares during the period. Finally, First United Bank & Trust bought a new stake in PPL in the 4th quarter valued at $107,000. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on PPL shares. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of PPL from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of PPL from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 11th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating on shares of PPL in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.50.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of PPL stock opened at $35.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.88. PPL Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.17 and a fifty-two week high of $40.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $37.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.56. The company has a market cap of $26.93 billion, a PE ratio of 21.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.57.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion during 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 revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. Analysts expect that PPL Corporation will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.285 per share. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.51%.

About PPL

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.