Guggenheim Issues Positive Forecast for PPL (NYSE:PPL) Stock Price

PPL (NYSE:PPL) had its target price raised by Guggenheim from $38.00 to $40.00 in a report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Guggenheim currently has a buy rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

PPL has been the topic of several other reports. Barclays boosted their target price on PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Citigroup upgraded PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of PPL from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PPL has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $36.09.

PPL Price Performance

Shares of PPL stock opened at $36.08 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $35.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.81. PPL has a 52-week low of $27.24 and a 52-week high of $36.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.65.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.15 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.88% and a net margin of 10.49%. PPL’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that PPL will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.2725 dividend. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.02%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.08%.

Insider Transactions at PPL

In other news, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total transaction of $39,857.88. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,292,668.26. This represents a 2.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of PPL

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PPL by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 91,859,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,981,760,000 after purchasing an additional 750,033 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in PPL by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 36,829,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,195,484,000 after purchasing an additional 2,070,499 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in PPL by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 27,465,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $891,532,000 after acquiring an additional 3,380,745 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of PPL by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,677,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $572,300,000 after purchasing an additional 500,058 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of PPL by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,672,428 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $411,347,000 after buying an additional 1,371,000 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.