PPL Corporation $PPL Shares Sold by Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. lessened its position in shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,931,810 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 78,359 shares during the period. PPL comprises 1.2% of Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. owned about 0.40% of PPL worth $108,946,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PPL. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of PPL in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates acquired a new position in shares of PPL during the third quarter worth $30,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of PPL by 322.5% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 732 shares in the last quarter. MTM Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in PPL in the second quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in PPL in the third quarter valued at $54,000. 76.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays raised PPL from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $40.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on PPL from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. UBS Group raised their target price on PPL from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Mizuho set a $39.00 target price on PPL in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of PPL in a report on Friday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.00.

PPL Stock Performance

NYSE PPL opened at $37.66 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.74. PPL Corporation has a 1 year low of $32.50 and a 1 year high of $39.08. The company has a market capitalization of $28.29 billion, a PE ratio of 23.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a fifty day moving average of $36.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.28.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.01). PPL had a return on equity of 9.29% and a net margin of 13.06%.The firm had revenue of $2.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.34 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. PPL has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.900-1.980 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that PPL Corporation will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.285 per share. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.25%.

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.