AXQ Capital LP Takes $2.74 Million Position in PPL Corporation $PPL

Key Points

• AXQ Capital LP acquired a new $2.74 million stake in PPL, purchasing 75,298 shares during the second quarter. Institutional investors collectively own 76.99% of the utility company.
• PPL shares opened at $35.06, near the lower end of their 52-week range, while analysts maintained a generally positive outlook. The stock has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and a $41 average price target, despite several recent target reductions.
• PPL slightly missed quarterly expectations, reporting $0.33 in EPS and $2.11 billion in revenue, but revenue increased 4.2% year over year. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.285 per share, equivalent to a 3.3% annualized yield.

AXQ Capital LP bought a new position in shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 75,298 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,737,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PPL in the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in PPL by 206.7% in the 2nd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,291 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 870 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in PPL by 72.5% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,587 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 1,087 shares during the period. Rossby Financial LCC grew its position in PPL by 70.0% in the 4th quarter. Rossby Financial LCC now owns 3,012 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $105,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in PPL in the 4th quarter worth $119,000. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PPL news, Director Kristen Robinson sold 37,107 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.05, for a total value of $929,530.35. Following the transaction, the director owned 222,897 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,583,569.85. This represents a 14.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Ashley F. Johnson sold 34,993 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.08, for a total value of $772,645.44. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 561,482 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,397,522.56. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PPL. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of PPL from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Evercore set a $42.00 price target on shares of PPL in a report on Monday, August 17th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of PPL from $48.00 to $44.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of PPL from $43.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on PPL from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $41.00.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PPL opened at $35.06 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $35.58 and a 200-day moving average of $36.67. 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 twelve month low of $33.17 and a twelve month high of $40.10. The firm has a market cap of $26.38 billion, a PE ratio of 20.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.57.

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. PPL has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.900-1.980 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that PPL Corporation will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

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

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.

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