PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $41.00.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of PPL from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Mizuho set a $39.00 price objective on shares of PPL in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of PPL in a report on Friday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on PPL from $45.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on PPL from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd.

Institutional Trading of PPL

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of PPL in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates bought a new stake in PPL in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its stake in PPL by 322.5% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 732 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its holdings in PPL by 293.8% in the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares during the period. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of PPL during the second quarter worth $44,000. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PPL Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of PPL opened at $37.98 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. PPL has a 12-month low of $32.50 and a 12-month high of $39.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.53 billion, a PE ratio of 23.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.70. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.25.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.34 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 9.29% and a net margin of 13.06%.PPL’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.34 earnings per share. PPL has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.900-1.980 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that PPL will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.285 per share. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.13%.

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.