PPL (NYSE:PPL) Price Target Raised to $42.00

PPL (NYSE:PPL) had its price target boosted by BMO Capital Markets from $41.00 to $42.00 in a research report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

PPL has been the subject of a number of other reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of PPL from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of PPL from $45.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of PPL from $43.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 11th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of PPL in a report on Friday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.17.

PPL Trading Down 1.0%

PPL stock opened at $38.06 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.35. PPL has a 12 month low of $32.50 and a 12 month high of $39.08. The company has a market capitalization of $28.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.70.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion. PPL had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 9.29%. PPL’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.34 earnings per share. PPL has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.900-1.980 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that PPL will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.25%.

Institutional Trading of PPL

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PPL. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of PPL by 39.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 19,166 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $692,000 after purchasing an additional 5,428 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its holdings in PPL by 40.7% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 62,375 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,252,000 after purchasing an additional 18,057 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its holdings in PPL by 13.0% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 26,861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $971,000 after purchasing an additional 3,084 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in PPL by 1,161.0% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 242,851 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,230,000 after purchasing an additional 223,593 shares during the period. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in PPL in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PPL Company Profile

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.