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 Price Performance

PPL traded up $0.31 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $30.91. 4,910,526 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,058,238. The business's 50-day moving average price is $27.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.76 billion, a PE ratio of 31.54 and a beta of 0.75. PPL has a 1-year low of $24.98 and a 1-year high of $30.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.53.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 21st were issued a dividend of $0.225 per share. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 17th. This is a boost from PPL's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. PPL's dividend payout ratio is 91.84%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut PPL from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on PPL in a report on Monday, May 30th. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of PPL from $33.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 7th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 14th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of PPL from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $29.00 to $33.00 in a report on Monday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PPL has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $31.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Vincent Sorgi sold 27,600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $828,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,462 shares in the company, valued at $3,343,860. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other PPL news, insider Stephanie R. Raymond sold 3,374 shares of PPL 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 23,182 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $705,891.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Vincent Sorgi sold 27,600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $828,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 111,462 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,343,860. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 59,004 shares of company stock valued at $1,742,702. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.