PPL (NYSE:PPL) Rating Increased to Hold at Royal Bank Of Canada

Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of PPL (NYSE:PPL) to a hold rating in a report published on Tuesday,Zacks reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on PPL. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on PPL from $48.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Evercore set a $42.00 price objective on PPL in a report on Monday, August 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of PPL in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of PPL from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of PPL from $43.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, PPL currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.54.

PPL Stock Performance

PPL stock opened at $33.39 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $35.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.45. PPL has a fifty-two week low of $33.17 and a fifty-two week high of $40.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.13 billion, a PE ratio of 19.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.57.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.19 billion. PPL had a net margin of 13.47% and a return on equity of 9.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. PPL has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.900-1.980 EPS. Analysts forecast that PPL will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, September 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 10th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. PPL’s payout ratio is 67.46%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Ashley F. Johnson sold 34,993 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.08, for a total value of $772,645.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 561,482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,397,522.56. This represents a 5.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kristen Robinson sold 37,107 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.05, for a total transaction of $929,530.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 222,897 shares in the company, valued at $5,583,569.85. This represents a 14.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PPL. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in PPL in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,521,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of PPL in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,893,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in shares of PPL during the second quarter worth $48,651,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of PPL by 7.1% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,157,814 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $114,787,000 after acquiring an additional 208,820 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of PPL during the second quarter worth $5,111,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

About PPL

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) is an energy and utility holding company headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Through its regulated utility subsidiaries, the company delivers electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers, while also operating and maintaining generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure.

PPL’s Pennsylvania operations are conducted through PPL Electric Utilities, which provides electric delivery service across much of central and eastern Pennsylvania.