Brokerages Set PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) Target Price at $41.20

Shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the twelve research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $41.20.

Several research firms recently commented on PPL. UBS Group dropped their target price on PPL from $38.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. BTIG Research upgraded PPL to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Bank of America raised their target price on PPL from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on PPL from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st.

PPL Stock Up 3.1%

Shares of PPL stock opened at $36.82 on Thursday. PPL has a 52-week low of $32.24 and a 52-week high of $38.26. The company has a 50 day moving average of $35.26 and a 200 day moving average of $35.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company has a market capitalization of $27.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.70.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.02. PPL had a net margin of 12.16% and a return on equity of 9.08%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. PPL has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.780-1.840 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that PPL will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 10th were issued a $0.2725 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 10th. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.65%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PPL

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in PPL in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates acquired a new stake in shares of PPL during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 322.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 732 shares during the last quarter. MTM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PPL in the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Lodestone Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PPL in the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.