Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. Makes New Investment in PPL Corporation $PPL

Key Points

• Landscape Capital Management initiated a 140,610-share position in PPL worth approximately $5.1 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 76.99% of the utility company.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with 10 Buy ratings and three Holds, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $41.33.
• PPL reported quarterly revenue of $2.11 billion and EPS of $0.33, slightly below estimates, while maintaining a quarterly dividend of $0.285 per share, equivalent to a 3.3% yield.

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 140,610 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,111,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in PPL by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 4,424,814 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $154,957,000 after acquiring an additional 88,531 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in shares of PPL by 23.7% during the second quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,056,733 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $74,762,000 after purchasing an additional 393,748 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 9.3% in the second 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 period. Korea Investment CORP purchased a new position in shares of PPL in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,134,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 2.9% in the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 355,841 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $12,935,000 after purchasing an additional 10,015 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PPL shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of PPL from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of PPL from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of PPL from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on PPL from $43.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Evercore set a $42.00 target price on PPL in a report on Monday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PPL currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $41.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPL

In other news, CFO Ashley F. Johnson sold 34,993 shares of PPL stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.08, for a total transaction of $772,645.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 561,482 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,397,522.56. The trade was a 5.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kristen Robinson sold 37,107 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.05, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 14.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

PPL Stock Down 2.2%

PPL stock opened at $34.42 on Friday. The company's 50 day moving average price is $35.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.75. 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 has a market capitalization of $25.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.57.

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.01). PPL had a net margin of 13.47% and a return on equity of 9.33%. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.19 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. The firm'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, equities research analysts anticipate that PPL Corporation will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th will be issued a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 10th. PPL's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.46%.

About PPL

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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