PPL (NYSE:PPL) Given New $41.00 Price Target at Barclays

PPL (NYSE:PPL) had its price objective hoisted by Barclays from $40.00 to $41.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Barclays‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 5.49% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on PPL. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of PPL from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of PPL in a research note on Friday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of PPL from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of PPL from $43.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.25.

PPL Price Performance

PPL stock traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $38.87. 1,351,765 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,601,264. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.66. PPL has a 12 month low of $32.50 and a 12 month high of $39.08. The business’s 50-day moving average is $37.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.54.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $2.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 9.29% and a net margin of 13.06%.PPL’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.34 earnings per share. PPL has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.900-1.980 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that PPL will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of PPL

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PPL. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of PPL by 13.5% during the third quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 4,336,283 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $161,136,000 after purchasing an additional 515,523 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of PPL by 905.7% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 523,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,342,000 after purchasing an additional 471,679 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of PPL by 59.5% during the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 452,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,823,000 after purchasing an additional 168,818 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in PPL by 62.8% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 115,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,054,000 after acquiring an additional 44,657 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinebridge Investments LLC bought a new position in PPL in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,060,000. 76.99% of the stock is 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.