PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• PPL has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating from 13 analysts, with 10 buys and 3 holds. The average 12-month price target is $41.67, above the stock’s reported $35.27 opening price.
• PPL’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with earnings per share of $0.63 versus the $0.61 consensus estimate and revenue of $2.77 billion, up 10.8% year over year.
• The company recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.285 per share, equivalent to $1.14 annually and a 3.2% yield. Insiders sold shares recently, while institutional investors own approximately 76.99% of the stock.

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $41.6667.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America reduced their price objective on PPL from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 20th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of PPL in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of PPL from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. BTIG Research reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of PPL in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th.

PPL Stock Performance

PPL stock opened at $35.27 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.53 billion, a PE ratio of 21.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.57. PPL has a 12-month low of $33.17 and a 12-month high of $40.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $35.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.87.

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 9.41% and a net margin of 13.09%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that PPL will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PPL news, Director Kristen Robinson sold 37,107 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $5,583,569.85. The trade was a 14.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ashley F. Johnson sold 34,993 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.08, for a total value of $772,645.44. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 561,482 shares in the company, valued at $12,397,522.56. The trade was a 5.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PPL. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. boosted its position in PPL by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 4,424,814 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $154,957,000 after purchasing an additional 88,531 shares during the last quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA grew its stake in shares of PPL by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 348,335 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $12,199,000 after purchasing an additional 25,172 shares during the period. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its position in shares of PPL by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 344,670 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $12,070,000 after purchasing an additional 18,840 shares during the last quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury increased its position in shares of PPL by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 249,204 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $8,446,000 after purchasing an additional 9,118 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 62.8% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 115,776 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,054,000 after purchasing an additional 44,657 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company's stock.

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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