Magellan Asset Management Ltd Invests $28.30 Million in PPL Corporation $PPL

Magellan Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 778,473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $28,297,000. Magellan Asset Management Ltd owned approximately 0.10% of PPL as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PPL. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. boosted its position in PPL by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 4,424,814 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $154,957,000 after buying an additional 88,531 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 23.7% in the second quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,056,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $74,762,000 after acquiring an additional 393,748 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,837,296 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $66,786,000 after purchasing an additional 157,005 shares during the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP acquired a new stake in PPL during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,134,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its holdings in PPL by 2.9% in the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 355,841 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,935,000 after purchasing an additional 10,015 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PPL opened at $34.42 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $25.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.91. PPL Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.17 and a fifty-two week high of $40.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.76.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.01). PPL had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 13.47%.The company had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.19 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. PPL has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.900-1.980 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that PPL Corporation will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, September 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 10th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. PPL’s payout ratio is 67.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PPL. Evercore set a $42.00 target price on shares of PPL in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Weiss Ratings lowered PPL from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on PPL from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on PPL from $43.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on PPL from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.33.

Insider Activity

In other PPL news, Director Kristen Robinson sold 37,107 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.05, for a total value of $929,530.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 222,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,583,569.85. This represents a 14.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Ashley F. Johnson sold 34,993 shares of PPL stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.08, for a total transaction of $772,645.44. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 561,482 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,397,522.56. This represents a 5.87% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

PPL Profile

PPL Corporation is an energy company that owns and operates electric transmission and distribution infrastructure and provides related customer services. The company’s core business centers on delivering electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers through regulated utility operations, maintaining grid reliability, responding to outages and managing customer billing and account services.

PPL’s activities include construction and maintenance of distribution and transmission lines, meter and grid management, and programs to support energy efficiency and the interconnection of distributed resources.