Hsbc Holdings PLC Makes New Investment in PPL Corporation $PPL

Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,335,060 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $48,651,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned about 0.18% of PPL as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in PPL in the second quarter worth about $33,729,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in PPL during the second quarter valued at approximately $187,326,000. Cullen Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in PPL during the second quarter valued at approximately $54,611,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp bought a new stake in shares of PPL in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,542,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of PPL in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,895,000. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PPL. Barclays boosted their target price on PPL from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of PPL from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of PPL from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of PPL from $43.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of PPL from $48.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PPL currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.00.

PPL Price Performance

PPL opened at $34.97 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $35.78 and a 200 day moving average of $36.75. The stock has a market cap of $26.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.69, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. PPL Corporation has a 52-week low of $33.17 and a 52-week high of $40.10.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its earnings results 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). PPL had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 13.47%.The business had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. PPL has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.900-1.980 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that PPL Corporation will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 10th will be given a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 10th. PPL’s payout ratio is 67.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PPL news, CFO Ashley F. Johnson sold 34,993 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.08, for a total transaction of $772,645.44. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 561,482 shares in the company, valued at $12,397,522.56. This represents a 5.87% 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, Director Kristen Robinson sold 37,107 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.05, for a total transaction of $929,530.35. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 222,897 shares in the company, valued at $5,583,569.85. This trade represents a 14.27% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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.