PPL Corporation $PPL Shares Purchased by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Key Points

• HSBC increased its PPL stake by 10.4% in the second quarter, acquiring 126,179 additional shares for a total holding of 1.34 million shares valued at approximately $48.7 million. Institutional investors collectively own 76.99% of PPL.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with 10 Buy ratings and three Hold ratings producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $41 price target.
• PPL reported quarterly EPS of $0.33, slightly below estimates, while revenue rose 4.2% year over year to $2.11 billion. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.285 per share, representing a 3.2% annualized yield.

Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL - Free Report) by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,335,060 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 126,179 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned approximately 0.18% of PPL worth $48,651,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PPL. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of PPL in the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of PPL by 206.7% during the second quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,291 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 870 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of PPL by 72.5% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,587 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $99,000 after buying an additional 1,087 shares during the period. Rossby Financial LCC raised its holdings in PPL by 70.0% in the fourth quarter. Rossby Financial LCC now owns 3,012 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in PPL in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $119,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of PPL from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Mizuho raised shares of PPL to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of PPL from $48.00 to $44.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of PPL from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Evercore set a $42.00 target price on shares of PPL in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $41.00.

PPL Price Performance

PPL stock opened at $35.09 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $35.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market cap of $26.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.76, a PEG ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.57. PPL Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.17 and a fifty-two week high of $40.10.

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

PPL Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, September 10th will be given a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 10th. PPL's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPL

In related news, CFO Ashley 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 561,482 shares in the company, valued at $12,397,522.56. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 shares were sold at an average price of $25.05, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 14.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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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