Brokerages Set PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) PT at $36.90

PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the ten brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $36.90.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup raised PPL from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. StockNews.com upgraded PPL from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Barclays boosted their target price on PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st.

Insider Activity at PPL

In other PPL news, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total value of $39,857.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,167 shares in the company, valued at $1,292,668.26. This trade represents a 2.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PPL

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 750,033 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in PPL by 6.0% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in PPL by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 27,938,545 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,008,861,000 after purchasing an additional 472,979 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in 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, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in PPL by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,672,428 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $411,347,000 after buying an additional 1,371,000 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of PPL stock traded down $1.09 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $34.42. 6,605,909 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,915,799. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $25.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.70. The stock's fifty day moving average is $35.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.97. PPL has a fifty-two week low of $27.24 and a fifty-two week high of $36.70.

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.15 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.88% and a net margin of 10.49%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.54 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that PPL will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.2725 dividend. This is a boost from PPL's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.17%. PPL's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.74%.

About PPL

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.