Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for PPL (NYSE:PPL) Stock

PPL (NYSE:PPL) had its price target upped by stock analysts at Barclays from $33.00 to $36.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Barclays‘s target price points to a potential upside of 3.28% from the stock’s previous close.

PPL has been the topic of a number of other reports. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on PPL in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup increased their price objective on PPL from $31.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on PPL from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a 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 $34.27.

PPL Trading Down 0.4 %

PPL stock opened at $34.86 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $33.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.82. PPL has a fifty-two week low of $25.87 and a fifty-two week high of $35.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. Analysts expect that PPL will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at PPL

In other PPL news, COO David J. Bonenberger sold 981 shares of PPL stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total transaction of $32,843.88. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 45,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,520,460.72. The trade was a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 1,424 shares of PPL stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total value of $47,675.52. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $376,951.32. This represents a 11.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,633 shares of company stock worth $346,657 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in PPL by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 91,859,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,981,760,000 after acquiring an additional 750,033 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of PPL by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 36,829,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,195,484,000 after purchasing an additional 2,070,499 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of PPL by 5.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,720,941 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of PPL by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,089,490 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,160,760,000 after purchasing an additional 2,050,122 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of PPL by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 27,465,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $891,532,000 after purchasing an additional 3,380,745 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.