PPL (NYSE:PPL) Price Target Lowered to $37.00 at Morgan Stanley

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) had its target price cut by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $38.00 to $37.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the utilities provider's stock. Morgan Stanley's price target indicates a potential upside of 10.30% from the company's current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays boosted their price target on PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Citigroup raised PPL from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group lifted their target price on PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim raised their price target 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of PPL from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PPL has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $36.80.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PPL traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $33.55. 1,376,132 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,940,542. PPL has a 52 week low of $27.24 and a 52 week high of $36.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.65. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $34.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.12.

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.07. PPL had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 9.14%. The business had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.54 EPS. The business's revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that PPL will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at PPL

In other PPL news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 1,767 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.98, for a total value of $61,809.66. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 45,485 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,591,065.30. This trade represents a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of PPL by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 91,859,527 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,981,760,000 after purchasing an additional 750,033 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in PPL by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 36,829,446 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,195,484,000 after buying an additional 2,070,499 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of PPL by 1.7% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 27,938,545 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,008,861,000 after purchasing an additional 472,979 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of PPL by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,677,941 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $572,300,000 after purchasing an additional 500,058 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 37.2% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 13,062,423 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $471,756,000 after buying an additional 3,544,282 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company's stock.

PPL Company Profile

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.

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