Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Acquires New Shares in PPL Corporation $PPL

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. bought a new position in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 6,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PPL. Boston Partners increased 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 during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in PPL by 1,418.1% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,909,371 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $105,057,000 after buying an additional 2,717,726 shares during the last quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP acquired a new position in PPL in the fourth quarter valued at $70,063,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of PPL during the 1st quarter valued at about $60,020,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in 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 during the period. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPL

In other news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 2,165 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.86, for a total value of $77,636.90. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 45,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,633,781.60. This represents a 4.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

PPL Price Performance

PPL opened at $35.97 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $35.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.13. PPL Corporation has a twelve month low of $31.22 and a twelve month high of $37.38. 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 company has a market capitalization of $26.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.84, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.65.

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

PPL Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2725 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 10th. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. PPL’s payout ratio is currently 81.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on PPL. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Barclays raised shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $36.70.

PPL Company 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.