PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) has been given a consensus rating of “Buy” by the twelve ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $40.50.

Several analysts have recently weighed in 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 report on Tuesday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on PPL from $45.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of PPL from $43.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of PPL from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a report on Wednesday, January 21st.

Institutional Trading of PPL

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in PPL by 39.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 19,166 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $692,000 after acquiring an additional 5,428 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 40.7% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 62,375 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,252,000 after purchasing an additional 18,057 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 13.0% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 26,861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $971,000 after purchasing an additional 3,084 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of PPL in the 2nd quarter worth about $84,000. Finally, Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA increased its position in shares of PPL by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 298,908 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,130,000 after purchasing an additional 32,945 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Stock Up 0.8%

NYSE PPL opened at $35.95 on Monday. PPL has a twelve month low of $32.50 and a twelve month high of $38.26. The stock has a market cap of $26.59 billion, a PE ratio of 24.29, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.77.

PPL Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 10th. PPL’s payout ratio is presently 73.65%.

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.