PPL (NYSE:PPL) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $38.35 and last traded at $38.2550, with a volume of 2960054 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.12.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PPL. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of PPL from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of PPL in a report on Friday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on PPL from $45.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Mizuho set a $39.00 target price on PPL in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Barclays upgraded PPL from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PPL has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.00.

PPL Trading Up 0.8%

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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $36.02 and a 200-day moving average of $36.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.70.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 9.29%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.34 earnings per share. PPL has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.900-1.980 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that PPL Corporation will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.285 per share. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. PPL’s payout ratio is 71.25%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PPL

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of PPL by 4.5% during the third quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 6,924 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in PPL by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 9,325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $347,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC raised its stake in PPL by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 5,299 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $180,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Busey Bank lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Busey Bank now owns 6,005 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $210,000 after buying an additional 351 shares during the period. Finally, Huntington National Bank boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 37,076 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,257,000 after buying an additional 408 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.