PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Receives $35.20 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $35.27.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on PPL shares. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on PPL in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group lifted their price target on PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PPL opened at $34.09 on Friday. PPL has a twelve month low of $25.93 and a twelve month high of $35.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $25.17 billion, a PE ratio of 28.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.76. The company’s 50 day moving average is $34.10 and its 200 day moving average is $33.24.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.88% and a net margin of 10.49%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that PPL will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.2725 dividend. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.08%.

Insider Activity at PPL

In other PPL news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 981 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total value of $32,843.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 45,414 shares in the company, valued at $1,520,460.72. This represents a 2.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John R. Crockett III sold 1,589 shares of PPL stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.12, for a total value of $52,627.68. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,845 shares in the company, valued at approximately $359,186.40. This represents a 12.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 5,140 shares of company stock valued at $173,005. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of PPL

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in PPL by 85.7% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 111,288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,834,000 after acquiring an additional 51,366 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,512,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $215,430,000 after purchasing an additional 55,594 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PPL during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,218,000. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC raised its holdings in PPL by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,997,610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $64,842,000 after buying an additional 124,275 shares during the period. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in PPL in the third quarter valued at about $916,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Company Profile

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.