Ledyard National Bank Sells 450 Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Ledyard National Bank trimmed its position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 450 shares during the quarter. Ledyard National Bank’s holdings in PPL were worth $314,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in PPL by 13,891.2% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,724,495 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $276,229,000 after acquiring an additional 11,640,696 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of PPL by 83.5% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 4,269,687 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $115,709,000 after buying an additional 1,943,282 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of PPL by 13.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,390,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $339,048,000 after buying an additional 1,695,726 shares during the period. Covalis Capital LLP boosted its position in shares of PPL by 132.7% during the third quarter. Covalis Capital LLP now owns 1,962,399 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,234,000 after buying an additional 1,118,978 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of PPL by 44.5% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,461,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,813,000 after buying an additional 1,066,268 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on PPL shares. Argus upgraded PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 8th. Barclays boosted 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. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.50.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of PPL remained flat at $27.53 during trading hours on Tuesday. 1,421,965 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,882,450. The company has a market capitalization of $20.31 billion, a PE ratio of 27.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. PPL Co. has a 12-month low of $22.20 and a 12-month high of $29.03. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.34.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. PPL had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 8.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is 103.00%.

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.