PPL (NYSE:PPL) Hits New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $39.23 and last traded at $38.7790, with a volume of 5604 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.86.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on PPL. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on PPL from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Mizuho raised their price target on PPL from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on PPL from $45.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on PPL from $43.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on PPL from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.17.

PPL Trading Up 0.4%

The stock has a market capitalization of $29.35 billion, a PE ratio of 24.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $37.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.54.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.34 billion. PPL had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 9.29%. PPL’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.34 earnings per share. PPL has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.900-1.980 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that PPL Corporation will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were given a $0.285 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.25%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PPL

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of PPL by 13.5% in the third quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 4,336,283 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $161,136,000 after acquiring an additional 515,523 shares in the last quarter. Allstate Corp purchased a new position in shares of PPL in the third quarter valued at about $1,009,000. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of PPL by 59.5% in the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 452,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,823,000 after acquiring an additional 168,818 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of PPL by 905.7% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA increased its holdings in shares of PPL by 8.1% in the third quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 323,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,009,000 after purchasing an additional 24,255 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PPL Company Profile

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.