GC Wealth Management RIA LLC Reduces Holdings in PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

GC Wealth Management RIA LLC trimmed its stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 13,703 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 344 shares during the quarter. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC’s holdings in PPL were worth $445,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PPL. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of PPL by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 882,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,192,000 after purchasing an additional 52,547 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of PPL by 23.9% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 30,044 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $994,000 after purchasing an additional 5,800 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc raised its stake in shares of PPL by 30.5% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 67,393 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,229,000 after purchasing an additional 15,761 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of PPL during the 3rd quarter valued at $240,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of PPL by 139.2% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,512 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup boosted their price objective on PPL from $31.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on PPL in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays upped 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total transaction of $39,857.88. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,167 shares in the company, valued at $1,292,668.26. This trade represents a 2.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 6,639 shares of PPL stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 11,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $360,513.60. This represents a 37.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,779 shares of company stock worth $386,515 in the last ninety days. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PPL opened at $34.31 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $25.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. PPL Co. has a 1-year low of $25.93 and a 1-year high of $35.91. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $33.57 and its 200 day moving average is $33.04.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.03). PPL had a return on equity of 8.88% and a net margin of 10.49%. The company had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that PPL Co. will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.18%. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.08%.

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.