PPL (NYSE:PPL) Sets New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) reached a new 52-week high on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $35.00 to $37.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. PPL traded as high as $32.56 and last traded at $32.56, with a volume of 1154 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $32.46.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on PPL. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of PPL from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Bank of America lifted their target price on PPL from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, PPL has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.36.

Institutional Trading of PPL

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Leelyn Smith LLC lifted its stake in PPL by 0.4% during the second quarter. Leelyn Smith LLC now owns 79,887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,209,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. grew its position in shares of PPL by 15.7% in the 2nd quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 2,611 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its position in PPL by 3.4% in the second quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 11,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $311,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. lifted its position in PPL by 0.5% in the second quarter. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. now owns 77,885 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,134,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in PPL by 46.7% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,507 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PPL Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $23.90 billion, a PE ratio of 31.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.82.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 9.26% and a net margin of 10.17%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.29 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 10th will be issued a $0.2575 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 10th. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.18%. PPL’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

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.