PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $32.27.

PPL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. StockNews.com cut PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. TheStreet lowered shares of PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PPL

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of PPL by 6.1% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 171,908 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,050,000 after purchasing an additional 9,905 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of PPL in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of PPL in the third quarter valued at about $2,412,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of PPL by 13.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,390,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $339,048,000 after acquiring an additional 1,695,726 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 13.6% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,498,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,303,000 after acquiring an additional 178,898 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PPL Stock Performance

NYSE:PPL opened at $28.09 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.48. The stock has a market cap of $20.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.27, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.81. PPL has a 1-year low of $22.20 and a 1-year high of $28.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.39 billion. PPL had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 8.80%. PPL’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.48 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that PPL will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This is a boost from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. PPL’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

About PPL

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.