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

Shares of PPL Stock traded up $0.08 on Monday, hitting $28.15. 3,669,309 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,066,441. 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 has a 12 month low of $24.98 and a 12 month high of $30.72. The stock has a market cap of $20.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.72 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a 50 day moving average of $27.77 and a 200 day moving average of $28.15.

PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.01. PPL had a return on equity of 6.90% and a net margin of 11.32%. The business had revenue of $1.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.28 EPS. PPL's revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that PPL will post 1.38 EPS for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 21st were given a dividend of $0.225 per share. This is an increase from PPL's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 17th. PPL's dividend payout ratio is currently 91.84%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Mizuho decreased their price objective on 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 price objective on PPL from $33.00 to $34.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 7th. Credit Suisse Group cut their target price on PPL from $33.00 to $29.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 16th. Evercore ISI upgraded PPL from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and cut their target price for the company from $31.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on PPL in a research report on Monday, May 30th. They set 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, PPL currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $30.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPL

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