PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $41.50.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of PPL in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of PPL from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of PPL from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on PPL from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 5th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PPL. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its position 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 buying an additional 799 shares during the last quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of PPL during the 4th quarter worth $48,000. Aventura Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in PPL during the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 72.5% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,587 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 1,087 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rossby Financial LCC boosted its position in PPL by 70.0% during the 4th quarter. Rossby Financial LCC now owns 3,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Stock Down 1.2%

NYSE PPL opened at $35.96 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $36.08 and its 200 day moving average is $36.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. PPL has a 12 month low of $33.17 and a 12 month high of $40.10. The stock has a market cap of $27.05 billion, a PE ratio of 21.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.57.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.02. PPL had a return on equity of 9.41% and a net margin of 13.09%.The business had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that PPL will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th were given a dividend of $0.285 per share. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.51%.

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.