Nordea Investment Management AB Has $1.18 Million Stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Nordea Investment Management AB decreased its position in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 92.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 36,251 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 455,038 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in PPL were worth $1,175,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 5.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,459,099 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,215,363,000 after buying an additional 1,720,941 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 6.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,089,490 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,160,760,000 after buying an additional 2,050,122 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 3,731,412 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,177,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $566,275,000 after buying an additional 201,417 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 0.9% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,512,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $215,430,000 after buying an additional 55,594 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PPL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on PPL from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on PPL in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on PPL in a research note on Friday, October 25th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $37.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays upgraded PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PPL presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.09.

PPL Stock Performance

NYSE PPL opened at $31.76 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.36, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.83. PPL Co. has a twelve month low of $25.35 and a twelve month high of $35.15. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42. PPL had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 9.95%. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.10 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.43 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2575 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. PPL’s payout ratio is currently 91.96%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 6,639 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.16, for a total value of $213,510.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $360,513.60. The trade was a 37.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John R. Crockett III sold 9,161 shares of PPL stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.35, for a total value of $314,680.35. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $427,107.90. This trade represents a 42.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.