Toronto Dominion Bank Decreases Holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Toronto Dominion Bank reduced its stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL - Free Report) by 36.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 255,779 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 147,066 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank's holdings in PPL were worth $8,303,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vise Technologies Inc. increased its position in shares of PPL by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 11,472 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $372,000 after acquiring an additional 2,674 shares in the last quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. now owns 27,503 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $893,000 after purchasing an additional 2,800 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,439,000. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of PPL by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 15,398 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $500,000 after buying an additional 2,696 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sagefield Capital LP raised its position in PPL by 68.5% in the 4th quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 249,550 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $8,100,000 after buying an additional 101,482 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at PPL

In related news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 1,767 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 45,485 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

PPL Price Performance

NYSE PPL traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $34.54. The company had a trading volume of 3,446,794 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,960,977. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.54, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.65. PPL Co. has a 52 week low of $27.24 and a 52 week high of $36.70. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.17.

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.15 billion. PPL had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 8.88%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be issued a $0.2725 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.16%. PPL's payout ratio is currently 80.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on PPL. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim raised their target price on PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of PPL from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. UBS Group increased 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. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $36.90.

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.