Analysts Set PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) Target Price at $41.20

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the twelve analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $41.20.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PPL. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of PPL from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of PPL in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on PPL from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of PPL in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PPL

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in PPL during the third quarter valued at $173,000. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. now owns 29,947 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,113,000 after purchasing an additional 925 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC grew its position in shares of PPL by 2.2% during the third quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 24,991 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $929,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of PPL in the third quarter worth about $235,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of PPL by 3.8% in the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 9,325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $347,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Stock Up 0.4%

NYSE PPL opened at $35.10 on Friday. PPL has a 52 week low of $31.22 and a 52 week high of $38.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company has a market capitalization of $25.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.69. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $35.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.78.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.02. PPL had a return on equity of 9.08% and a net margin of 12.16%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. PPL has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.780-1.840 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that PPL will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 10th will be paid a $0.2725 dividend. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.65%.

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.