Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. Trims Holdings in PPL Corporation $PPL

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. reduced its holdings in shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,931,810 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 78,359 shares during the period. PPL makes up 1.2% of Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s holdings in PPL were worth $108,946,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of PPL by 4.5% in the third quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 6,924 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $257,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 3.8% during the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 9,325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $347,000 after buying an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 6.9% during the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 5,299 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $180,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. First Bank & Trust increased its position in PPL by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 45,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,687,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the period. Finally, Opus Capital Group LLC increased its position in PPL by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Opus Capital Group LLC now owns 7,173 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $267,000 after acquiring an additional 543 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on PPL. Citigroup increased their price objective on PPL from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of PPL in a report on Friday, February 20th. Barclays raised PPL from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $40.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of PPL from $45.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PPL currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.00.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of PPL opened at $37.66 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $36.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.28. PPL Corporation has a twelve month low of $32.50 and a twelve month high of $39.08. The firm 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.

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

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.