PPL Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:PPL)

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 30,316 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 2,010% compared to the average volume of 1,437 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays raised shares of PPL from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of PPL from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PPL currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $36.70.

PPL Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:PPL traded up $0.40 during trading on Friday, reaching $36.01. The stock had a trading volume of 2,990,027 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,374,735. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $34.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market cap of $26.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.67, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.64. PPL has a fifty-two week low of $28.49 and a fifty-two week high of $36.70.

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $2.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that PPL will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 10th were given a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 10th. PPL's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.74%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 1,767 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.98, for a total transaction of $61,809.66. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 45,485 shares in the company, valued at $1,591,065.30. The trade was a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PPL

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 worth $572,300,000 after acquiring an additional 500,058 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 17.5% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 79,088 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,824,000 after purchasing an additional 11,782 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 9.2% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,975,310 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $107,438,000 after purchasing an additional 250,564 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PPL by 45.0% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 30,603 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,105,000 after purchasing an additional 9,503 shares during the period. Finally, Heartland Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of PPL in the first quarter valued at $992,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.