Zacks Research Issues Pessimistic Forecast for PPL Earnings

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) – Equities researchers at Zacks Research lowered their Q2 2025 earnings per share estimates for shares of PPL in a research report issued on Wednesday, July 16th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now forecasts that the utilities provider will earn $0.38 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $0.39. The consensus estimate for PPL’s current full-year earnings is $1.83 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for PPL’s Q1 2027 earnings at $0.62 EPS and Q2 2027 earnings at $0.48 EPS.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.07. PPL had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 9.14%. The company had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.54 earnings per share. PPL’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Guggenheim upped their price target on PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on PPL from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays raised shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $36.70.

PPL Stock Performance

NYSE:PPL opened at $35.98 on Friday. PPL has a fifty-two week low of $28.49 and a fifty-two week high of $36.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $34.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.65, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.64.

PPL Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2725 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. PPL’s payout ratio is 80.74%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PPL news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 1,767 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.98, for a total transaction of $61,809.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 45,485 shares in the company, valued at $1,591,065.30. The trade was a 3.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PPL

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in PPL by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 91,859,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,981,760,000 after purchasing an additional 750,033 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in PPL by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 36,829,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,195,484,000 after purchasing an additional 2,070,499 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of PPL by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 27,938,545 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,008,861,000 after buying an additional 472,979 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,677,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $572,300,000 after buying an additional 500,058 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 37.2% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 13,062,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $471,756,000 after buying an additional 3,544,282 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.