PPL (NYSE:PPL) Price Target Raised to $31.00 at Royal Bank of Canada

PPL (NYSE:PPL) had its target price boosted by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $30.00 to $31.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target points to a potential upside of 16.41% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on PPL. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. TheStreet cut shares of PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Argus upgraded shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 target price on shares of PPL in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PPL has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.50.

PPL Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of PPL stock opened at $26.63 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.04. PPL has a 52-week low of $22.20 and a 52-week high of $29.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.64 billion, a PE ratio of 26.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.81.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.02. PPL had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 8.45%. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that PPL will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PPL

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PPL. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can boosted its position in shares of PPL by 3.7% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 350,807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,501,000 after purchasing an additional 12,428 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of PPL by 2.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,292,612 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $65,480,000 after purchasing an additional 50,658 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of PPL by 9.4% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 341,996 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,779,000 after purchasing an additional 29,496 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its position in shares of PPL by 1.2% during the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 409,552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,697,000 after acquiring an additional 4,998 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in shares of PPL by 7.7% during the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 10,764 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 766 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About PPL

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.