Argyle Capital Management Inc. Sells 13,727 Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL)

Argyle Capital Management Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 15.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 72,798 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 13,727 shares during the period. Argyle Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in PPL were worth $1,973,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in PPL by 13.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,390,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $339,048,000 after purchasing an additional 1,695,726 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in PPL by 13,891.2% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,724,495 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $276,229,000 after buying an additional 11,640,696 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in PPL by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,237,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $217,624,000 after buying an additional 592,279 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,850,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $161,405,000 after purchasing an additional 45,548 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 4,749,317 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $113,044,000 after purchasing an additional 103,734 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:PPL traded down $0.28 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $27.02. 3,467,327 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,906,858. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market cap of $19.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.81. PPL Co. has a fifty-two week low of $22.20 and a fifty-two week high of $29.03.

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

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is currently 103.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on PPL shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of 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 shares of PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. TheStreet downgraded shares of PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.50.

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.