** Shares of electric and natural gas utility PPL Corp PPL.N down 0.5% at $35.36 and underperforming the market on Thurs after co secures capital raise

** Equities rallying broadly on Thurs after strong Nvidia NVDA.O earnings, jobs data; S&P 500 .SPX up 1.9%, S&P 500 Utilities index .SPLRCU up 1.2% on the session

** Allentown, Pennsylvania-based firm l ate Weds announced pricing private offering of $1 bln 3% 5-yr exchangeable notes

** Initial conversion price of $42.66 represents 20% premium to stock's last close of $35.55

** PPL shares on Weds fell 2.6% after co unveiled the offering to repay short-term debt and for general corp purposes

** Earlier this month, PPL reported Q3 results and said data center demand increased 40% in Pennsylvania from previous qtr

** With the move on Thurs, PPL shares up ~9% YTD vs ~18% advance in utilities index

** Avg rating among 17 analysts is "buy" and median PT is $40, per LSEG

(Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)

((lance.tupper@tr.com 1-646-279-6380))