Man Group plc Buys New Holdings in PPL Corporation $PPL

Man Group plc purchased a new position in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,016,081 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $36,935,000. Man Group plc owned approximately 0.14% of PPL as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allied Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of PPL during the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 206.7% in the 2nd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,291 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 870 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its position in PPL by 72.5% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,587 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 1,087 shares during the period. Rossby Financial LCC grew its position in PPL by 70.0% in the 4th quarter. Rossby Financial LCC now owns 3,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240 shares during the period. Finally, Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new stake in PPL during the 4th quarter valued at $119,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of PPL from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of PPL in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on PPL from $43.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Mizuho raised shares of PPL to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of PPL from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 10th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.00.

Insider Transactions at PPL

In other news, Director Kristen Robinson sold 37,107 shares of PPL stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 222,897 shares in the company, valued at $5,583,569.85. This trade represents a 14.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Ashley F. 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 transaction of $772,645.44. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

PPL Price Performance

PPL stock opened at $34.97 on Thursday. PPL Corporation has a 12 month low of $33.17 and a 12 month high of $40.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.75. The company has a market cap of $26.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.69, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.57.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. The business’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. Sell-side analysts forecast that PPL Corporation will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors 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 currently 67.46%.

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.