Voya Investment Management LLC Trims Position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Voya Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL - Free Report) by 50.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 249,551 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 254,658 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC's holdings in PPL were worth $8,100,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 8,266.9% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 9,518,141 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $309,060,000 after purchasing an additional 9,404,382 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of PPL in the 4th quarter valued at about $228,509,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of PPL during the fourth quarter worth about $147,480,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in PPL by 12.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 34,758,947 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,115,824,000 after acquiring an additional 3,731,412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in PPL by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 27,465,566 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $891,532,000 after acquiring an additional 3,380,745 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PPL. UBS Group lifted their price objective 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. Barclays boosted their target price on PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Citigroup upgraded shares of PPL from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target on PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $36.90.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL stock traded up $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $36.19. The stock had a trading volume of 5,342,331 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,927,308. The firm has a market cap of $26.75 billion, a PE ratio of 29.91, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.65. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $35.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.71. PPL Co. has a fifty-two week low of $27.24 and a fifty-two week high of $36.70.

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.15 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.88% and a net margin of 10.49%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.54 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that PPL Co. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This is a positive change from PPL's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. PPL's dividend payout ratio is presently 90.08%.

Insider Activity

In other PPL news, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total value of $39,857.88. Following the sale, the insider now owns 37,167 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,292,668.26. This represents a 2.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.22% 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.