Key Points
- PPL Director John Raymond sold 6,494 shares on July 13 at an average price of $26.16, totaling about $169,883. After the transaction, he still owned 37,114 shares valued at roughly $970,902.
- PPL’s latest earnings beat expectations, reporting $0.63 EPS versus the $0.61 consensus, with revenue of $2.77 billion also topping estimates. Revenue rose 10.8% from a year earlier.
- The company continues to pay a solid dividend, recently issuing a quarterly payout of $0.285 per share, or $1.14 annualized, for a yield of 3.2%. Analysts remain generally positive, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy.”
PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) Director John Raymond sold 6,494 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.16, for a total value of $169,883.04. Following the sale, the director directly owned 37,114 shares in the company, valued at approximately $970,902.24. The trade was a 14.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.
PPL Stock Performance
Shares of PPL stock opened at $35.73 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $26.88 billion, a PE ratio of 21.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.79. PPL Corporation has a one year low of $33.17 and a one year high of $40.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.00.
PPL (NYSE:PPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. PPL had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 9.41%. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. The company's revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that PPL Corporation will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.
PPL Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 10th were issued a $0.285 dividend. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 10th. PPL's payout ratio is currently 69.51%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several analysts have recently commented on PPL shares. BTIG Research reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of PPL in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of PPL in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on PPL from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Barclays raised their price target on PPL from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Seaport Research Partners set a $42.00 price objective on shares of PPL in a report on Monday, April 20th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $41.67.
Read Our Latest Report on PPL
Institutional Trading of PPL
Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in PPL by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 4,424,814 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $154,957,000 after buying an additional 88,531 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in PPL by 905.7% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 523,756 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $18,342,000 after acquiring an additional 471,679 shares during the period. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 348,335 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $12,199,000 after acquiring an additional 25,172 shares during the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its stake in shares of PPL by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 344,670 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $12,070,000 after acquiring an additional 18,840 shares during the period. Finally, State of Tennessee Department of Treasury increased its stake in shares of PPL by 3.8% in the second quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 249,204 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $8,446,000 after acquiring an additional 9,118 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company's stock.
PPL Company Profile
(
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.
Further Reading
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