Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 24,279 Shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund cut its stake in shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL - Free Report) by 9.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 222,120 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 24,279 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings in PPL were worth $8,021,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in PPL by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,677,941 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $572,300,000 after acquiring an additional 500,058 shares in the last quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,997,610 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $64,842,000 after purchasing an additional 124,275 shares in the last quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in PPL during the 1st quarter valued at $992,000. Aviso Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter valued at $256,000. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PPL by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 123,756 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,469,000 after acquiring an additional 4,328 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Guggenheim lifted their price target on PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of PPL from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded PPL from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $36.70.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PPL traded up $0.08 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $33.97. 2,975,788 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,972,256. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.65. PPL Corporation has a 52-week low of $27.24 and a 52-week high of $36.70. The company has a 50-day moving average of $34.71 and a 200-day moving average of $34.15.

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.07. PPL had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 9.14%. The firm had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.54 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that PPL Corporation will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2725 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. PPL's dividend payout ratio is currently 80.74%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PPL news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 1,767 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.98, for a total value of $61,809.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 45,485 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,591,065.30. This trade represents a 3.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company's stock.

PPL Company 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.