PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) Receives $41.00 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com 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 12-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $41.00.

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America dropped their target price on PPL from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 20th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating on shares of PPL in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Weiss Ratings cut PPL from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on PPL from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on PPL from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th.

PPL Stock Performance

PPL stock opened at $34.20 on Friday. PPL has a twelve month low of $33.17 and a twelve month high of $40.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.73.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.19 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 9.33% and a net margin of 13.47%.PPL’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. PPL has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.900-1.980 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that PPL will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, September 10th will be paid a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.46%.

Insider Transactions at PPL

In other news, Director Kristen Robinson sold 37,107 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.05, for a total transaction of $929,530.35. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 222,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,583,569.85. This trade represents a 14.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Ashley F. Johnson sold 34,993 shares of PPL stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.08, for a total transaction of $772,645.44. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 561,482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,397,522.56. This represents a 5.87% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PPL

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in PPL by 494.5% during the 2nd quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 862 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 717 shares in the last quarter. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PPL in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of PPL by 206.7% in the 2nd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,291 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 870 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 72.5% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,587 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 1,087 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rossby Financial LCC increased its holdings in PPL by 70.0% during the fourth quarter. Rossby Financial LCC now owns 3,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $105,000 after buying an additional 1,240 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is currently 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.