Brokerages Set PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Price Target at $32.50

PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $32.27.

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on PPL shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on PPL from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. TheStreet cut PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Bank of America upped their price objective on PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com cut PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL stock opened at $28.09 on Tuesday. PPL has a 52 week low of $22.20 and a 52 week high of $28.93. The company has a market capitalization of $20.72 billion, a PE ratio of 27.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $27.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.02. PPL had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 9.29%. The business had revenue of $2.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.48 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that PPL will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in shares of PPL in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in shares of PPL by 179.8% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PPL in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

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.