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

Shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $41.50.

Several equities analysts recently commented on PPL shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on PPL from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Citigroup increased their target price on PPL from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating on shares of PPL in a research report on Thursday, June 4th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PPL

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PPL. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 799 shares in the last quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PPL during the fourth quarter worth $48,000. Aventura Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PPL during the fourth quarter worth $49,000. Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its position 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 worth $99,000 after acquiring an additional 1,087 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rossby Financial LCC lifted its position in shares of PPL by 70.0% during the fourth quarter. Rossby Financial LCC now owns 3,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $105,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Price Performance

PPL stock opened at $36.36 on Friday. PPL has a 12 month low of $33.17 and a 12 month high of $40.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.56. The company has a market cap of $27.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.17, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.57.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.02. PPL had a return on equity of 9.41% and a net margin of 13.09%.The business had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. PPL’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that PPL will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.51%.

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.