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.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research analysts have issued reports on PPL shares. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on PPL to $32.00 in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded PPL from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 4th. Credit Suisse Group reduced their price objective on PPL from $33.00 to $29.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on PPL from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on PPL in a research note on Monday, May 30th. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $30.78.
PPL Trading Up 1.5 %
PPL traded up $0.43 on Thursday, hitting $29.43. 9,731,874 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,065,768. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.62. PPL has a 12 month low of $24.98 and a 12 month high of $30.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.67 billion, a PE ratio of 30.04 and a beta of 0.75.
PPL Increases Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 21st were given a $0.225 dividend. 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 3.06%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 17th. PPL's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 91.84%.
Insider Transactions at PPL
In other news, insider Stephanie R. Raymond sold 3,374 shares of PPL stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.45, for a total value of $102,738.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 23,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,891.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Stephanie R. Raymond sold 3,374 shares of PPL stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.45, for a total value of $102,738.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 23,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,891.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Vincent Sorgi sold 27,553 shares of PPL stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total value of $799,037.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 111,462 shares in the company, valued at $3,232,398. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 31,404 shares of company stock worth $914,702. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.