PPL - PPL Stock Forecast, Price & News

PPL Corporation, a utility holding company, delivers electricity and natural gas in the United States and the United Kingdom. The company operates through two segments: Kentucky Regulated and Pennsylvania Regulated. It serves approximately 429,000 electric and 333,000 natural gas customers in Louisville and adjacent areas in Kentucky; 538,000 electric customers in central, southeastern, and western Kentucky; and 28,000 electric customers in five counties in southwestern Virginia. The company also provides electric services to approximately 1.4 million customers in Pennsylvania; and generates electricity from coal, gas, hydro, and solar sources in Kentucky; and sells wholesale electricity to two municipalities in Kentucky. PPL Corporation was founded in 1920 and is headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

PPL Stock Performance

NYSE:PPL opened at $28.07 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $27.81 and a 200-day moving average of $28.16. The firm has a market cap of $20.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.64 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. PPL has a twelve month low of $24.98 and a twelve month high of $30.72.

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.01. PPL had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 6.90%. The firm had revenue of $1.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.28 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that PPL will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 21st were given a dividend of $0.225 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 17th. This is a positive change from PPL's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. PPL's payout ratio is 91.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on PPL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on PPL in a report on Monday, May 30th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Credit Suisse Group lowered their target price on PPL from $33.00 to $29.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 16th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of PPL from $33.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on PPL from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PPL has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $30.56.

Insider Activity

In other PPL news, insider Stephanie R. Raymond sold 3,374 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.45, for a total transaction of $102,738.30. Following the sale, the insider now owns 23,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,891.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Stephanie R. Raymond sold 3,374 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.45, for a total value of $102,738.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 23,182 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $705,891.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Vincent Sorgi sold 27,553 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total transaction of $799,037.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,462 shares in the company, valued at $3,232,398. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,404 shares of company stock valued at $914,702 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.