Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Sells 100,093 Shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC cut its stake in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL - Free Report) by 28.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 257,879 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 100,093 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in PPL were worth $9,410,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in PPL in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 141.0% during the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 723 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 423 shares during the period. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in shares of PPL during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. HM Payson & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 1,057.6% during the 1st quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 984 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 899 shares during the period. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 84.5% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,264 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPL

In other PPL news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 1,767 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $1,591,065.30. The trade was a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on PPL shares. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of PPL from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of PPL from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, PPL currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $36.70.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of PPL stock traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $34.28. 2,934,401 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,939,624. The company has a market cap of $25.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.22. PPL Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $27.93 and a fifty-two week high of $36.70.

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

PPL Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th were paid a $0.2725 dividend. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 10th. PPL's dividend payout ratio is presently 80.74%.

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.