PPL (NYSE:PPL) Stock Crosses Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL)’s stock price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $36.36 and traded as high as $37.18. PPL shares last traded at $36.9070, with a volume of 6,804,078 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of PPL in a report on Friday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on PPL from $45.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Mizuho boosted their target price on PPL from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Barclays raised PPL from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on PPL from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.17.

PPL Stock Up 0.3%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The company has a market capitalization of $27.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.70. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.37.

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

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.25%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in PPL by 39.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 19,166 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $692,000 after acquiring an additional 5,428 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in shares of PPL by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 62,375 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,252,000 after purchasing an additional 18,057 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in shares of PPL by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 26,861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $971,000 after purchasing an additional 3,084 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of PPL by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 299,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,134,000 after purchasing an additional 984 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of PPL by 64.9% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $159,000 after purchasing an additional 1,848 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.