PPL (NYSE:PPL) Stock Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) shares crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $36.09 and traded as high as $36.24. PPL shares last traded at $35.95, with a volume of 9,732,638 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. BTIG Research upgraded shares of PPL to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of PPL in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of PPL from $38.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on PPL from $45.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on PPL from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, PPL has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $40.50.

PPL Trading Up 0.8%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.70. The business’s 50-day moving average is $35.19 and its 200 day moving average is $36.09.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.02. PPL had a return on equity of 9.08% and a net margin of 12.16%.PPL’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that PPL Corporation will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 10th were issued a $0.2725 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 10th. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.65%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PPL

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its position in PPL by 31.1% in the 4th quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 12,155 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $426,000 after acquiring an additional 2,880 shares in the last quarter. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of PPL in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $119,000. Dynamic Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 33.4% in the 4th quarter. Dynamic Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 5,364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $188,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343 shares during the period. Horizon Investments LLC raised its holdings in PPL by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 25,841 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $905,000 after buying an additional 850 shares during the period. Finally, Busey Bank raised its stake in shares of PPL by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Busey Bank now owns 6,005 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $210,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

About PPL

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.