PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $41.00.

Several research analysts have issued reports on PPL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on PPL from $43.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Mizuho set a $39.00 price target on shares of PPL in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of PPL in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th.

PPL Stock Performance

PPL traded up $0.71 during trading on Friday, reaching $38.78. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 446,006 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,330,886. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $36.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.30. PPL has a 52-week low of $32.50 and a 52-week high of $39.08. The company has a market capitalization of $29.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.70.

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

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.285 per share. 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. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.25%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PPL

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in PPL during the third quarter worth $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates acquired a new stake in PPL in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of PPL by 322.5% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 732 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its stake in shares of PPL by 293.8% during the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 799 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of PPL during the 2nd quarter worth $44,000. 76.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.