Teacher Retirement System of Texas Cuts Position in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas cut its holdings in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL - Free Report) by 30.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 113,551 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 50,199 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas' holdings in PPL were worth $4,100,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of PPL by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 16,293 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $529,000 after buying an additional 4,323 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in shares of PPL by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 32,853 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,066,000 after buying an additional 2,809 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc boosted its position in shares of PPL by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 72,280 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,346,000 after buying an additional 4,887 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of PPL in the 4th quarter worth $4,631,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in PPL by 84.5% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,264 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PPL traded down $0.05 during trading on Friday, hitting $34.28. The company had a trading volume of 2,934,401 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,938,992. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.81. PPL Corporation has a 12 month low of $27.79 and a 12 month high of $36.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.64.

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

PPL Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 10th. PPL's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.74%.

Insider Transactions at PPL

In related news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 1,767 shares of PPL stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.98, for a total transaction of $61,809.66. Following the sale, the chief operating officer 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

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.