PPL (NYSE:PPL) Share Price Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $36.09 and traded as high as $36.24. PPL shares last traded at $35.95, with a volume of 9,732,638 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BTIG Research upgraded PPL to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of PPL from $43.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 11th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of PPL from $45.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on PPL from $38.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, PPL presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.50.

PPL Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $26.59 billion, a PE ratio of 24.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.70. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.02. PPL had a return on equity of 9.08% and a net margin of 12.16%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that PPL Corporation will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2725 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 10th. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. PPL’s payout ratio is presently 73.65%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PPL. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its position in shares of PPL by 31.1% in the fourth quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 12,155 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $426,000 after acquiring an additional 2,880 shares in the last quarter. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in PPL in the 4th quarter valued at $119,000. Dynamic Wealth Strategies LLC raised its position in PPL by 33.4% in the fourth quarter. Dynamic Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 5,364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $188,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343 shares during the period. Horizon Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 25,841 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $905,000 after purchasing an additional 850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Busey Bank boosted its position in shares of PPL by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Busey Bank now owns 6,005 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $210,000 after buying an additional 351 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PPL Company Profile

PPL Corporation is an energy company that owns and operates electric transmission and distribution infrastructure and provides related customer services. The company’s core business centers on delivering electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers through regulated utility operations, maintaining grid reliability, responding to outages and managing customer billing and account services.

PPL’s activities include construction and maintenance of distribution and transmission lines, meter and grid management, and programs to support energy efficiency and the interconnection of distributed resources.