PPL (NYSE:PPL) Price Target Cut to $33.00 by Analysts at Barclays

PPL (NYSE:PPL) had its target price trimmed by Barclays from $34.00 to $33.00 in a research note published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on PPL in a report on Friday, October 25th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $37.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of PPL in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of PPL from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of PPL from $31.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PPL currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.00.

PPL Trading Down 2.7 %

NYSE:PPL opened at $32.65 on Wednesday. PPL has a 12-month low of $25.35 and a 12-month high of $35.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.98. The firm has a market cap of $24.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.15, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.10 billion. PPL had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 9.20%. PPL’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that PPL will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th were issued a $0.2575 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 91.97%.

Insider Activity at PPL

In other PPL news, SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 6,639 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.16, for a total transaction of $213,510.24. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $360,513.60. This represents a 37.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John R. Crockett III sold 9,161 shares of PPL stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.35, for a total value of $314,680.35. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $427,107.90. This represents a 42.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of PPL

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPL. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of PPL by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 34,758,947 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,115,824,000 after acquiring an additional 3,731,412 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in PPL by 91.3% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,821,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $160,977,000 after purchasing an additional 2,778,820 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in PPL by 6.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,089,490 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,160,760,000 after purchasing an additional 2,050,122 shares during the period. Electron Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 71.3% in the 2nd quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,306,007 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $119,061,000 after purchasing an additional 1,792,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of PPL by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,459,099 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,215,363,000 after buying an additional 1,720,941 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.