PPL (NYSE:PPL) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

PPL (NYSE:PPL) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Wednesday.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of PPL from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. TheStreet downgraded shares of PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Argus raised shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, PPL has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.50.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL stock opened at $27.30 on Wednesday. PPL has a fifty-two week low of $22.20 and a fifty-two week high of $29.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.81. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $26.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.26.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.02. PPL had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 8.45%. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.28 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that PPL will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PPL

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Philadelphia Trust Co. grew its holdings in PPL by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Philadelphia Trust Co. now owns 16,851 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $457,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC grew its holdings in PPL by 0.9% in the third quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 46,833 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,103,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the period. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 0.5% during the first quarter. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. now owns 77,512 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,087,000 after buying an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 8,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $222,000 after buying an additional 421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Alliance grew its holdings in shares of PPL by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 19,792 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $536,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About PPL

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.