PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPLGet Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $32.10.

PPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on PPL from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on PPL from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of PPL in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. TheStreet cut PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on PPL from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd.

Read Our Latest Analysis on PPL

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PPL

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in PPL by 15.5% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 69,465,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,838,055,000 after buying an additional 9,298,570 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,759,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,229,596,000 after purchasing an additional 1,971,238 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in shares of PPL in the 4th quarter valued at $570,789,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,519,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $409,567,000 after purchasing an additional 346,647 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,390,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $339,048,000 after purchasing an additional 1,695,726 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.09% of the company’s stock.

PPL Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:PPL opened at $27.18 on Monday. PPL has a 12-month low of $22.20 and a 12-month high of $29.03. The company has a market capitalization of $20.05 billion, a PE ratio of 27.18, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.81. The business has a 50 day moving average of $26.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

PPL (NYSE:PPLGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.02. PPL had a return on equity of 8.45% and a net margin of 8.90%. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.28 earnings per share. PPL’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that PPL will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.2575 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.79%. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. PPL’s payout ratio is 103.00%.

PPL Company Profile

(Get Free Report

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.

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Analyst Recommendations for PPL (NYSE:PPL)

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