PPL (NYSE:PPL) Sets New 1-Year Low – Here’s What Happened

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL)’s share price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $33.15 and last traded at $33.2050, with a volume of 390246 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $33.34.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on PPL shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on PPL from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Evercore set a $42.00 price objective on PPL in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on PPL from $42.00 to $39.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of PPL from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of PPL in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.31.

PPL Trading Down 0.5%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of $24.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.57. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $34.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.30.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly 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). The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.19 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 13.47%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. PPL has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.900-1.980 EPS. Research analysts predict that PPL Corporation will post 1.95 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 10th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.46%.

Insider Activity

In other PPL news, CFO Ashley 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 222,897 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,583,569.85. This represents a 14.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cidel Asset Management Inc. increased its position in PPL by 5.1% during the second quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,468 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $271,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of PPL by 0.9% in the first quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 49,157 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,723,000 after acquiring an additional 429 shares during the period. Syon Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 8,823 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $321,000 after acquiring an additional 448 shares during the last quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC now owns 12,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $468,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 7,411 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $283,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

PPL Company Profile

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) is an energy and utility holding company headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Through its regulated utility subsidiaries, the company delivers electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers, while also operating and maintaining generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure.

PPL’s Pennsylvania operations are conducted through PPL Electric Utilities, which provides electric delivery service across much of central and eastern Pennsylvania.