PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $41.00.

PPL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays raised PPL from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $37.00 to $40.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of PPL in a research note on Friday, February 20th. 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, Mizuho set a $39.00 target price on shares of PPL in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PPL

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. lifted its position in PPL by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 6,924 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $257,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of PPL by 3.8% in the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 9,325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $347,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of PPL by 6.9% during the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 5,299 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $180,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Busey Bank grew its stake in shares of PPL by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Busey Bank now owns 6,005 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $210,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in shares of PPL by 1.1% in the second quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 37,076 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,257,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

PPL Stock Performance

NYSE:PPL opened at $37.98 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $36.40 and its 200-day moving average is $36.25. PPL has a 52-week low of $32.50 and a 52-week high of $39.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $28.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.74, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.70.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.01). PPL had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 9.29%. The company had revenue of $2.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.34 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. PPL has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.900-1.980 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that PPL will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.13%.

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.