Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Invests $4.52 Million in PPL Corporation $PPL

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 123,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,521,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in PPL during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $187,326,000. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings 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 worth $154,957,000 after acquiring an additional 88,531 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 23.7% during the second quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,056,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $74,762,000 after buying an additional 393,748 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of PPL by 9.3% during the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,837,296 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $66,786,000 after buying an additional 157,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cullen Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in PPL in the 2nd quarter worth about $54,611,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of PPL from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on PPL from $48.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Barclays raised their price target on PPL from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on PPL from $43.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Mizuho raised PPL to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 3rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, PPL has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.00.

PPL Price Performance

PPL stock opened at $34.20 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $35.74 and its 200 day moving average is $36.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market cap of $25.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.57. PPL Corporation has a 1-year low of $33.17 and a 1-year high of $40.10.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). PPL had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 13.47%.The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. PPL has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.900-1.980 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that PPL Corporation will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Ashley F. Johnson sold 34,993 shares of PPL stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.08, for a total value of $772,645.44. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 561,482 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,397,522.56. The trade was a 5.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kristen Robinson sold 37,107 shares of PPL stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.05, for a total value of $929,530.35. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

PPL 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.