Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Sells 1,673 Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. cut its stake in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 24,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,673 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $667,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PPL. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,390,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $339,048,000 after buying an additional 1,695,726 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in PPL by 13,891.2% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,724,495 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $276,229,000 after buying an additional 11,640,696 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in PPL by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,237,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $217,624,000 after acquiring an additional 592,279 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in PPL by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,850,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $161,405,000 after purchasing an additional 45,548 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in PPL by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,532,127 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $122,821,000 after acquiring an additional 115,177 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PPL opened at $29.00 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $27.14 and its 200-day moving average is $26.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market cap of $21.39 billion, a PE ratio of 28.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.81. PPL Co. has a 52 week low of $22.20 and a 52 week high of $29.00.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.39 billion. PPL had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 8.80%. PPL’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that PPL Co. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.2575 dividend. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.55%. This is a boost from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho upped their price objective on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com raised PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Argus raised shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.27.

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.