PPL (NYSE:PPL) Price Target Raised to $38.00 at Morgan Stanley

PPL (NYSE:PPL) had its price target lifted by Morgan Stanley from $35.00 to $38.00 in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup raised shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Barclays increased their price target on PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on PPL in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 price objective on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, PPL presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.20.

PPL Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of PPL stock opened at $35.00 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.17. PPL has a 1 year low of $25.93 and a 1 year high of $35.91. The company has a market capitalization of $25.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.76.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.03). PPL had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 8.88%. The business had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. Research analysts forecast that PPL will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of PPL stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total value of $39,857.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,167 shares in the company, valued at $1,292,668.26. The trade was a 2.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 1,424 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total transaction of $47,675.52. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,259 shares in the company, valued at $376,951.32. This represents a 11.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,140 shares of company stock valued at $173,005 over the last ninety days. 0.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in PPL by 85.7% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 111,288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,834,000 after buying an additional 51,366 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in PPL by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,512,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $215,430,000 after acquiring an additional 55,594 shares during the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PPL in the third quarter valued at about $1,218,000. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC lifted its position in shares of PPL by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,997,610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $64,842,000 after purchasing an additional 124,275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in PPL during the third quarter worth about $916,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

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.