Jennison Associates LLC Decreases Stake in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL)

Jennison Associates LLC lowered its position in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL - Free Report) by 2.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,124,758 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 82,197 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned approximately 0.56% of PPL worth $148,945,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of PPL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in PPL by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 91,859,527 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,981,760,000 after purchasing an additional 750,033 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in PPL by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 36,829,446 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,195,484,000 after buying an additional 2,070,499 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in PPL by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 27,465,566 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $891,532,000 after buying an additional 3,380,745 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in PPL by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,677,941 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $572,300,000 after buying an additional 500,058 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in PPL by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,672,428 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $411,347,000 after buying an additional 1,371,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPL

In other PPL news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 1,767 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.98, for a total value of $61,809.66. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 45,485 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,591,065.30. This trade represents a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

PPL Stock Performance

PPL stock traded up $0.37 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $35.98. 7,251,634 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,099,066. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.60 billion, a PE ratio of 26.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.64. PPL Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $28.49 and a fifty-two week high of $36.70.

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

PPL Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 10th. PPL's payout ratio is currently 80.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PPL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays upgraded PPL from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised PPL from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $36.70.

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.