Brokerages Set PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) Target Price at $41.50

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $41.50.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on PPL from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Weiss Ratings upgraded PPL from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating on shares of PPL in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of PPL from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th.

PPL Trading Up 0.1%

PPL opened at $35.37 on Friday. PPL has a 1-year low of $33.17 and a 1-year high of $40.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.61 billion, a PE ratio of 21.57, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $36.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.54.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. PPL had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 9.41%. PPL’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that PPL will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 10th will be issued a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.51%.

Institutional Trading of PPL

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 39.5% in the 1st 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 period. Woodline Partners LP grew its stake in shares of PPL by 40.7% during 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 period. Focus Partners Wealth increased 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 valued at $971,000 after purchasing an additional 3,084 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in PPL by 64.9% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $159,000 after buying an additional 1,848 shares during the period. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC boosted its holdings in PPL by 6.9% during the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 5,299 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $180,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

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.