Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Purchases New Position in PPL Corporation $PPL

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 29,285 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $963,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in PPL by 3.2% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 100,197 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,295,000 after buying an additional 3,083 shares in the last quarter. First Bank & Trust grew its stake in shares of PPL by 26.9% during the third quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 54,948 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,807,000 after buying an additional 11,632 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of PPL by 23.9% during the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 10,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $332,000 after buying an additional 1,947 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of PPL by 11.9% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 42,480 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,544,000 after buying an additional 4,508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in shares of PPL by 15.8% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 38,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,400,000 after buying an additional 5,260 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PPL. Mizuho upgraded PPL to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on PPL from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. HSBC assumed coverage on PPL in a research report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on PPL from $48.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on PPL from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPL

In related news, EVP Wendy Stark sold 5,406 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.11, for a total value of $189,804.66. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 99,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,483,614.20. The trade was a 5.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

PPL Stock Down 0.9%

NYSE:PPL opened at $35.03 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.73. PPL Corporation has a one year low of $31.56 and a one year high of $40.10. The company has a market cap of $26.37 billion, a PE ratio of 20.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.56.

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

PPL Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2850 per share. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 10th. PPL’s payout ratio is 67.46%.

About PPL

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) is an energy and utility holding company headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Through its regulated utility subsidiaries, the company delivers electricity and natural gas, operates electric distribution and transmission systems, and provides related energy services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers.

PPL’s principal businesses include PPL Electric Utilities in Pennsylvania, Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities in Kentucky, and Rhode Island Energy in Rhode Island.