Equitable Holdings Inc. Takes Position in PPL Corporation $PPL

Equitable Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 146,224 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,315,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in PPL by 3.8% during the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 9,325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $347,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC increased its holdings in PPL by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 5,299 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $180,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in PPL by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 49,157 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,723,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC raised its position in PPL by 3.8% in the first quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC now owns 12,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $468,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. raised its position in PPL by 7.0% in the first quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 7,411 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $283,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at PPL

In related news, CFO Ashley F. Johnson sold 34,993 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.08, for a total value of $772,645.44. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 561,482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,397,522.56. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kristen Robinson sold 37,107 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 15th. The shares were 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 $5,583,569.85. This represents a 14.27% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. 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 research note on Tuesday. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of PPL in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective 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. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of PPL from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Evercore set a $42.00 price target on shares of PPL in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Ten research 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 an average price target of $41.00.

PPL Price Performance

PPL opened at $34.45 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.39, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a 50-day moving average of $35.76 and a 200-day moving average of $36.74. 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 1-year low of $33.17 and a 1-year high of $40.10.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 the consensus estimate of $2.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly 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. Equities analysts expect that PPL Corporation will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 10th will be paid a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 10th. PPL’s payout ratio 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.