PPL (NYSE:PPL) Stock Price Expected to Rise, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Analyst Says

PPL (NYSE:PPL) had its price target upped by equities research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 25.59% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on PPL from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating on shares of PPL in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of PPL from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.92.

PPL Stock Down 1.5%

PPL stock opened at $35.83 on Thursday. PPL has a 12-month low of $33.17 and a 12-month high of $40.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The company has a market cap of $26.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.85, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a 50 day moving average of $35.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.79.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.02. PPL had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 9.41%. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. PPL’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that PPL will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other PPL news, Director Kristen Robinson sold 37,107 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.05, for a total transaction of $929,530.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 222,897 shares in the company, valued at $5,583,569.85. This represents a 14.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO William Spencer Marshall sold 200,000 shares of PPL stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.92, for a total value of $5,184,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,703,115 shares in the company, valued at $70,064,740.80. The trade was a 6.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 243,601 shares of company stock valued at $6,283,413 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of PPL. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its position in PPL by 293.8% during the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 799 shares during the period. Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in PPL in the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in PPL in the 4th quarter worth $48,000. Aventura Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of PPL during the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of PPL by 72.5% during the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,587 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $99,000 after purchasing an additional 1,087 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About PPL

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.