VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Takes Position in PPL Corporation $PPL

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 132,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,813,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of PPL by 39.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 19,166 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $692,000 after acquiring an additional 5,428 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its position in shares of PPL by 40.7% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 62,375 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,252,000 after purchasing an additional 18,057 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in shares of PPL by 13.0% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 26,861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $971,000 after purchasing an additional 3,084 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in PPL by 64.9% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $159,000 after purchasing an additional 1,848 shares during the period. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC grew its stake in PPL by 6.9% in the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 5,299 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $180,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL stock opened at $35.08 on Wednesday. PPL Corporation has a one year low of $33.17 and a one year high of $40.10. The company’s 50-day moving average is $35.49 and its 200 day moving average is $36.62. The company has a market capitalization of $26.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.57. 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 (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.19 billion. PPL had a net margin of 13.47% and a return on equity of 9.33%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. PPL has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.900-1.980 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that PPL Corporation will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 222,897 shares in the company, valued at $5,583,569.85. The trade was a 14.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Ashley Johnson sold 34,993 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.08, for a total value of $772,645.44. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PPL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on PPL from $43.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price 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. Mizuho upgraded shares of PPL to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of PPL from $48.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of PPL from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.00.

PPL Company 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.