PPL (NYSE:PPL) Share Price Passes Above 200-Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

Shares of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $35.73 and traded as high as $37.03. PPL shares last traded at $36.8750, with a volume of 4,527,020 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PPL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of PPL in a research note on Monday, October 6th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $43.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of PPL from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of PPL in a research report on Monday, October 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $41.00 target price on shares of PPL in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $40.73.

PPL Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $27.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.52, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.66. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $36.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.59.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.02. PPL had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 8.81%. The firm had revenue of $2.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. PPL’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. PPL has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.780-1.840 EPS. On average, analysts expect that PPL Corporation will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2725 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 10th. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. PPL’s payout ratio is presently 73.65%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PPL

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in PPL by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 27,938,545 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,008,861,000 after buying an additional 472,979 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of PPL by 37.2% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 13,062,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $471,756,000 after acquiring an additional 3,544,282 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 0.3% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,598,814 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $310,503,000 after acquiring an additional 28,589 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of PPL by 1.4% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 7,998,199 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $288,815,000 after acquiring an additional 109,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of PPL by 3.9% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 7,881,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $284,608,000 after acquiring an additional 297,999 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PPL Company Profile

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.