William Spencer Marshall Sells 200,000 Shares of PPL (NYSE:PPL) Stock

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) CEO William Spencer Marshall sold 200,000 shares of PPL stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.92, for a total value of $5,184,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,703,115 shares in the company, valued at approximately $70,064,740.80. The trade was a 6.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

PPL Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of NYSE:PPL opened at $36.33 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The business has a fifty day moving average of $35.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.79. The stock has a market cap of $27.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.15, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.57. PPL Corporation has a 52-week low of $33.17 and a 52-week high of $40.10.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.02. PPL had a return on equity of 9.41% and a net margin of 13.09%.The business had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that PPL Corporation will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th were paid a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. PPL’s payout ratio is 69.51%.

Key Headlines Impacting PPL

Here are the key news stories impacting PPL this week:

• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its price target on PPL from $42 to $45 and reiterated an overweight rating, signaling continued confidence in the utility’s upside potential. Article source
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain broadly constructive, with PPL still carrying a Moderate Buy consensus and a target price above recent trading levels.
• Neutral Sentiment: The company’s long-term growth story is being supported by its $23 billion grid investment plan, which targets reliability improvements, fewer outages, and about 10.3% annual rate base growth through 2029. Article source
• Neutral Sentiment: PPL also continues to back shareholders with a 3.2% dividend yield after its recent quarterly payout.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider selling may be creating some caution, including sales by CEO William Spencer Marshall and directors John Raymond and Kristen Robinson, which can weigh on sentiment even if the transactions were likely routine. Article source

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Weiss Ratings cut PPL from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on PPL from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Mizuho raised PPL to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 3rd. Finally, BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating on shares of PPL in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.92.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PPL

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PPL. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. raised its position in PPL by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 4,424,814 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $154,957,000 after purchasing an additional 88,531 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of PPL by 905.7% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 523,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,342,000 after buying an additional 471,679 shares during the period. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA grew its stake in shares of PPL by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 348,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,199,000 after buying an additional 25,172 shares in the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY grew its stake in shares of PPL by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 344,670 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,070,000 after buying an additional 18,840 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Tennessee Department of Treasury raised its holdings in shares of PPL by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 249,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,446,000 after buying an additional 9,118 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

About PPL

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.