PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• PPL has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” from 13 research firms, with 10 buy ratings and 3 holds. The average 1-year price target is $41.50.
• The company recently reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, posting $0.63 EPS versus the $0.61 estimate and revenue of $2.77 billion versus $2.51 billion expected. Revenue was up 10.8% year over year.
• PPL also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.285 per share, equal to an annualized yield of about 3.2%. Its payout ratio is currently 69.51%.

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the thirteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $41.50.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PPL. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on PPL from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Mizuho upgraded PPL to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of PPL from $43.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of PPL in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of PPL from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th.

Institutional Trading of PPL

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 9,325 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $347,000 after buying an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC increased its stake in PPL by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 5,299 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $180,000 after buying an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Busey Bank increased its stake in PPL by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Busey Bank now owns 6,005 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $210,000 after buying an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in PPL by 0.9% during the first quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 49,157 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,723,000 after acquiring an additional 429 shares during the period. Finally, Plimoth Trust Co. LLC raised its holdings in PPL by 3.8% during the first quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC now owns 12,240 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $468,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PPL Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE PPL opened at $35.96 on Thursday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $36.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.75. The company has a market cap of $27.05 billion, a PE ratio of 21.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.57. PPL has a 52-week low of $33.17 and a 52-week high of $40.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.00.

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that PPL will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th were issued a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. PPL's payout ratio is currently 69.51%.

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.

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