Zacks Research Issues Positive Forecast for PPL Earnings

PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) – Investment analysts at Zacks Research boosted their Q2 2026 earnings estimates for shares of PPL in a report released on Wednesday, January 8th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now expects that the utilities provider will post earnings of $0.40 per share for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $0.39. The consensus estimate for PPL’s current full-year earnings is $1.72 per share.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.10 billion. PPL had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 9.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on PPL. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of PPL in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of PPL from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on PPL from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on PPL in a research note on Friday, October 25th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $37.00 price target on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PPL has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.09.

PPL Stock Performance

NYSE:PPL opened at $31.76 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.29. PPL has a fifty-two week low of $25.35 and a fifty-two week high of $35.15. The company has a market cap of $23.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.36, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $33.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.67.

Institutional Trading of PPL

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 34,758,947 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,115,824,000 after purchasing an additional 3,731,412 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in PPL by 91.3% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,821,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $160,977,000 after buying an additional 2,778,820 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,089,490 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,160,760,000 after buying an additional 2,050,122 shares in the last quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of PPL by 71.3% during the 2nd quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,306,007 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $119,061,000 after buying an additional 1,792,200 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of PPL by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,459,099 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,215,363,000 after acquiring an additional 1,720,941 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other PPL news, SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 6,639 shares of PPL stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.16, for a total transaction of $213,510.24. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $360,513.60. The trade was a 37.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John R. Crockett III sold 9,161 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.35, for a total value of $314,680.35. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $427,107.90. The trade was a 42.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th were given a $0.2575 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is presently 91.96%.

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.