PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) Receives $41.50 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $41.50.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PPL. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of PPL from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating on shares of PPL in a report on Thursday, June 4th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on PPL from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Mizuho raised shares of PPL to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a report on Tuesday, April 21st.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL stock opened at $36.06 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $27.13 billion, a PE ratio of 21.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $35.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.77. PPL has a 52 week low of $33.17 and a 52 week high of $40.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 9.41% and a net margin of 13.09%.The company’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that PPL will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th were paid a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. PPL’s payout ratio is presently 69.51%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PPL

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its stake in shares of PPL by 293.8% during the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares in the last quarter. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in PPL in the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in PPL during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Aventura Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of PPL during the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in PPL by 72.5% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,587 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $99,000 after purchasing an additional 1,087 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.