HighTower Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in PPL Corporation $PPL

Key Points

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HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL - Free Report) by 36.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 217,325 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 58,428 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in PPL were worth $7,848,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in PPL by 17.5% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 79,088 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,824,000 after buying an additional 11,782 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in PPL by 9.2% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,975,310 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $107,438,000 after buying an additional 250,564 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in PPL by 45.0% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 30,603 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,105,000 after buying an additional 9,503 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in PPL by 13.7% in the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 9,748 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $352,000 after buying an additional 1,175 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heartland Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in PPL in the first quarter worth about $992,000. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at PPL

In other news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 2,165 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.86, for a total transaction of $77,636.90. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 45,560 shares in the company, valued at $1,633,781.60. This represents a 4.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

PPL Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:PPL traded up $0.1740 during trading on Friday, reaching $36.8940. 3,406,655 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,647,535. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $35.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.95. PPL Corporation has a 52-week low of $31.22 and a 52-week high of $37.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market cap of $27.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.64.

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.05). PPL had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 8.81%. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. PPL has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.750-1.870 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that PPL Corporation will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. PPL's payout ratio is 81.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays raised shares of PPL from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of PPL from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $36.70.

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.