PPL (PPL) – Investment Analysts’ Recent Ratings Changes

PPL (NYSE: PPL) has recently received a number of price target changes and ratings updates:

• 5/2/2024 – PPL was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating.
• 4/24/2024 – PPL was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating.
• 4/11/2024 – PPL had its price target raised by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $30.00 to $31.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 4/11/2024 – PPL had its price target raised by analysts at Bank of America Co. from $29.00 to $30.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 3/14/2024 – PPL had its price target raised by analysts at Barclays PLC from $27.00 to $28.00. They now have an “equal weight” rating on the stock.
• 3/8/2024 – PPL was upgraded by analysts at Argus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating. They now have a $30.00 price target on the stock.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PPL opened at $28.00 on Thursday. PPL Co. has a 1 year low of $22.20 and a 1 year high of $28.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company’s 50-day moving average is $26.98 and its 200 day moving average is $26.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.81.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.02. PPL had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 8.45%. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. PPL’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that PPL Co. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $0.2575 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.68%. This is a boost from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. PPL’s payout ratio is currently 103.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PPL

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in PPL by 21.2% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 345,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,145,000 after acquiring an additional 60,577 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in PPL by 4.0% during the third quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 97,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,295,000 after acquiring an additional 3,788 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in PPL by 9.5% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 182,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,304,000 after acquiring an additional 15,866 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in PPL by 35.1% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 14,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $333,000 after acquiring an additional 3,674 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Investment Advisors MI boosted its stake in PPL by 7.1% during the third quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI now owns 34,792 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $820,000 after acquiring an additional 2,308 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

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.