PPL Co. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.26 (NYSE:PPL)

PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, August 23rd, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.2575 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 10th.

PPL has decreased its dividend by an average of 16.7% per year over the last three years. PPL has a payout ratio of 56.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect PPL to earn $1.84 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.03 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 56.0%.

PPL Trading Up 0.7 %

PPL opened at $31.78 on Friday. PPL has a 12 month low of $22.20 and a 12 month high of $31.82. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $29.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.07. The firm has a market cap of $23.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.85, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.05. PPL had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 9.26%. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.29 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that PPL will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on PPL from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Mizuho lifted their price objective on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on PPL from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.82.

PPL Company Profile

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.