PPL (NYSE:PPL) Reaches New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $35.04 and last traded at $34.94, with a volume of 141380 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $34.84.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on PPL in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on PPL from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on PPL from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Bank of America upped their target price on PPL from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on PPL from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.50.

PPL Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $25.89 billion, a PE ratio of 31.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $32.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.76.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.10 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 9.95%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2575 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.94%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is presently 91.97%.

Insider Activity at PPL

In related news, insider John R. Crockett III sold 9,161 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.35, for a total transaction of $314,680.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,434 shares in the company, valued at $427,107.90. This represents a 42.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PPL

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPL. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in PPL by 91.3% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,821,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $160,977,000 after purchasing an additional 2,778,820 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in PPL by 6.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,089,490 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,160,760,000 after purchasing an additional 2,050,122 shares in the last quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in PPL by 71.3% in the second quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,306,007 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $119,061,000 after purchasing an additional 1,792,200 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in PPL by 5.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,459,099 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,215,363,000 after purchasing an additional 1,720,941 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in PPL by 25.3% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,890,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $162,882,000 after purchasing an additional 1,189,339 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Company Profile

PPL Corporation, an energy company, focuses on providing electricity and natural gas to approximately 3.6 million customers in the United States. It operates through three segments: Kentucky Regulated, Pennsylvania Regulated, and Rhode Island Regulated. The company delivers electricity to customers in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, and Rhode Island; delivers natural gas to customers in Kentucky and Rhode Island; and generates electricity from power plants in Kentucky.