Zacks Research Comments on PPL Co.’s Q4 2024 Earnings (NYSE:PPL)

PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) – Equities research analysts at Zacks Research dropped their Q4 2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of PPL in a research note issued on Thursday, April 25th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now anticipates that the utilities provider will earn $0.43 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $0.45. The consensus estimate for PPL’s current full-year earnings is $1.70 per share.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.56 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.45% and a net margin of 8.90%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.28 EPS.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on PPL from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Argus raised PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Barclays upped their price objective on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.50.

PPL Stock Performance

PPL stock opened at $27.02 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $19.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.02, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $26.92 and its 200 day moving average is $26.32. PPL has a twelve month low of $22.20 and a twelve month high of $29.03.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PPL

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of PPL during the 4th quarter valued at $570,789,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,390,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $339,048,000 after buying an additional 1,695,726 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 13,891.2% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,724,495 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $276,229,000 after buying an additional 11,640,696 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 10,396,322 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $281,740,000 after buying an additional 1,045,852 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of PPL by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,237,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $217,624,000 after buying an additional 592,279 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.81%. This is a boost from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is presently 103.00%.

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.