PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) Short Interest Up 23.1% in February

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 27th, there was short interest totaling 40,200,601 shares, an increase of 23.1% from the February 12th total of 32,650,157 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 14,708,284 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days. Approximately 5.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Approximately 5.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 14,708,284 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of PPL from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on PPL from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of PPL in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Mizuho set a $39.00 price objective on PPL in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on PPL from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.00.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL opened at $38.49 on Monday. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $36.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.31. PPL has a 12-month low of $32.50 and a 12-month high of $39.08. The stock has a market cap of $28.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.05, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.70.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released 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 firm had revenue of $2.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.34 billion. PPL had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 9.29%. PPL’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.34 earnings per share. PPL has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.900-1.980 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that PPL will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. PPL’s payout ratio is currently 71.25%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PPL

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PPL. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. increased its stake in PPL by 13.5% during the third quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 4,336,283 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $161,136,000 after acquiring an additional 515,523 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 905.7% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 523,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,342,000 after purchasing an additional 471,679 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 59.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 452,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,823,000 after purchasing an additional 168,818 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its position in PPL by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 372,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,622,000 after purchasing an additional 45,154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in PPL by 62.8% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 115,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,054,000 after purchasing an additional 44,657 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

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.