PPL (NYSE:PPL) Given New $42.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley lowered PPL’s price target to $42 from $43 while maintaining an “overweight” rating, implying approximately 21% upside from the prior close. Analysts overall assign the stock a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average target of $41.33.
• PPL shares fell 1.4% to $34.69, near the lower end of their 52-week range. The company narrowly missed quarterly expectations, reporting $0.33 in earnings per share versus a $0.34 consensus and revenue of $2.11 billion versus $2.19 billion expected.
• Institutional investors own nearly 77% of PPL, while company insiders own 0.34%. Recent insider activity included share sales by the CFO and a director, reducing their respective holdings by 5.87% and 14.27%.

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) had its price target lowered by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $43.00 to $42.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "overweight" rating on the utilities provider's stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective indicates a potential upside of 21.07% from the company's previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of PPL from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings downgraded PPL from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Evercore set a $42.00 price objective on PPL in a research report on Monday. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of PPL in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $41.33.

PPL Stock Down 1.4%

NYSE:PPL traded down $0.51 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $34.69. 1,571,041 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,752,823. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. PPL has a fifty-two week low of $33.17 and a fifty-two week high of $40.10. The company has a market capitalization of $26.11 billion, a PE ratio of 20.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.77.

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.19 billion. PPL had a net margin of 13.47% and a return on equity of 9.33%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. PPL has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.900-1.980 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that PPL will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other PPL news, CFO Ashley F. Johnson sold 34,993 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.08, for a total value of $772,645.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 561,482 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,397,522.56. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kristen Robinson sold 37,107 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.05, for a total value of $929,530.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 222,897 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,583,569.85. This represents a 14.27% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PPL

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPL. Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of PPL during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in PPL by 206.7% in the 2nd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,291 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 870 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in PPL by 72.5% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,587 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 1,087 shares in the last quarter. Rossby Financial LCC grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 70.0% during the fourth quarter. Rossby Financial LCC now owns 3,012 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $105,000 after buying an additional 1,240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of PPL in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $119,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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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