PPL (NYSE:PPL) Share Price Passes Above 200-Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL)’s stock price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $36.08 and traded as high as $37.07. PPL shares last traded at $36.2920, with a volume of 9,384,026 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on PPL shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on PPL from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of PPL from $45.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. BTIG Research raised shares of PPL to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of PPL in a research report on Monday, October 6th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on PPL from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PPL has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.50.

PPL Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average is $35.30 and its 200-day moving average is $36.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.52, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.02. PPL had a net margin of 12.16% and a return on equity of 9.08%. The business’s revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. PPL has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.780-1.840 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that PPL Corporation will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 10th were issued a $0.2725 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 10th. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.65%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PPL

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 4.5% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in PPL by 3.8% during the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 9,325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $347,000 after buying an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $180,000 after buying an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Busey Bank grew its stake in PPL by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Busey Bank now owns 6,005 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $210,000 after buying an additional 351 shares during the period. Finally, Huntington National Bank increased its position in shares of PPL by 1.1% in the second quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 37,076 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,257,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.