First Hawaiian Bank Grows Position in PPL Corporation $PPL

First Hawaiian Bank increased its stake in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) by 11.8% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 45,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,813 shares during the quarter. First Hawaiian Bank’s holdings in PPL were worth $1,648,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of PPL. Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of PPL by 37.2% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 13,062,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $471,756,000 after buying an additional 3,544,282 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of PPL by 1,418.1% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,909,371 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $105,057,000 after buying an additional 2,717,726 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PPL in the first quarter valued at about $60,020,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of PPL by 42.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,779,155 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $172,575,000 after buying an additional 1,434,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PPL in the first quarter valued at about $29,617,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPL

In other news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 2,165 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.86, for a total value of $77,636.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 45,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,633,781.60. The trade was a 4.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PPL opened at $36.17 on Friday. PPL Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $31.22 and a fifty-two week high of $37.38. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $36.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market cap of $26.74 billion, a PE ratio of 26.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.65.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.05). PPL had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 8.81%. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. PPL’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. PPL has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.750-1.870 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that PPL Corporation will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be given a $0.2725 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 10th. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PPL shares. Barclays upgraded PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $36.70.

PPL Profile

PPL Corporation, an energy company, focuses on providing electricity and natural gas to approximately 3.6 million customers in the United States. It operates through three segments: Kentucky Regulated, Pennsylvania Regulated, and Rhode Island Regulated. The company delivers electricity to customers in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, and Rhode Island; delivers natural gas to customers in Kentucky and Rhode Island; and generates electricity from power plants in Kentucky.