PPL (NYSE:PPL) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

PPL (NYSE:PPL) posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. PPL had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 8.80%. The firm had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.48 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. PPL updated its FY24 guidance to $1.63-1.75 EPS.

PPL Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE:PPL traded up $0.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $28.09. 3,810,483 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,444,747. The company has a fifty day moving average of $27.00 and a 200 day moving average of $26.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.28. PPL has a twelve month low of $22.20 and a twelve month high of $28.93. The company has a market capitalization of $20.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.81.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a $0.2575 dividend. This is a boost from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.67%. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PPL. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays lifted their target price on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. TheStreet cut PPL from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, PPL presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.27.

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.