Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. Takes Position in PPL Corporation $PPL

Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 23,519 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $855,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in PPL during the second quarter worth about $1,893,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of PPL during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,111,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its holdings in shares of PPL by 569.8% during the 2nd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 35,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,295,000 after purchasing an additional 30,313 shares in the last quarter. Chancellor Financial Group WB LP purchased a new position in shares of PPL during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,286,000. Finally, Korea Investment CORP acquired a new position in shares of PPL in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,134,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Trading Up 1.9%

PPL stock opened at $35.04 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. PPL Corporation has a 12-month low of $33.17 and a 12-month high of $40.10. The stock has a market cap of $26.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.73, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.57. The business’s 50-day moving average is $35.81 and its 200 day moving average is $36.75.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.01). PPL had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 13.47%.The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. PPL’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. PPL has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.900-1.980 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that PPL Corporation will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

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. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 10th. PPL’s payout ratio is presently 67.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of PPL from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating on shares of PPL in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on PPL from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on PPL from $43.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on PPL from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.33.

Insider Activity at PPL

In related news, Director Kristen Robinson sold 37,107 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 15th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,583,569.85. This represents a 14.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Ashley F. Johnson sold 34,993 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 owned 561,482 shares in the company, valued at $12,397,522.56. The trade was a 5.87% 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 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.