Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 974,316 Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Federated Hermes Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 10.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,789,945 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 974,316 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $238,208,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PPL. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of PPL during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of PPL during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 179.8% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in PPL during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PPL. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of PPL from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 price target on shares of PPL in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Bank of America boosted their target price on PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.50.

PPL Stock Performance

NYSE:PPL traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $26.45. 759,075 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,950,496. PPL Co. has a one year low of $22.20 and a one year high of $29.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.88. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.51 billion, a PE ratio of 26.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.81.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.02. PPL had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 8.45%. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.28 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that PPL Co. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.2575 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is a boost from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.89%. PPL’s payout ratio is currently 103.00%.

PPL Company 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.