PPL (NYSE:PPL) Stock Price Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

by · The Markets Daily

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPLGet Free Report) shares passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $36.24 and traded as high as $38.66. PPL shares last traded at $38.58, with a volume of 8,289,883 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on PPL from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on PPL from $43.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Mizuho set a $39.00 target price on shares of PPL in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Barclays raised shares of PPL from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, PPL presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.00.

Get Our Latest Stock Report on PPL

PPL Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market cap of $28.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.11, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.70. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $36.34 and its 200-day moving average is $36.24.

PPL (NYSE:PPLGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.01). PPL had a return on equity of 9.29% and a net margin of 13.06%.The firm had revenue of $2.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.34 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. PPL has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.900-1.980 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that PPL Corporation will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.285 per share. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. PPL’s payout ratio is currently 68.13%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PPL

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. increased its position in PPL by 13.5% during the third quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 4,336,283 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $161,136,000 after buying an additional 515,523 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of PPL by 905.7% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 523,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,342,000 after purchasing an additional 471,679 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP increased its stake in PPL by 59.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 452,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,823,000 after acquiring an additional 168,818 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its position in shares of PPL by 13.8% in the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 372,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,622,000 after purchasing an additional 45,154 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of PPL by 62.8% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 115,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,054,000 after buying an additional 44,657 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

About PPL

(Get Free Report)

PPL Corporation is an energy company that owns and operates electric transmission and distribution infrastructure and provides related customer services. The company’s core business centers on delivering electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers through regulated utility operations, maintaining grid reliability, responding to outages and managing customer billing and account services.

PPL’s activities include construction and maintenance of distribution and transmission lines, meter and grid management, and programs to support energy efficiency and the interconnection of distributed resources.

Featured Articles