PPL (NYSE:PPL) Given New $35.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

PPL (NYSE:PPL) had its target price raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $32.00 to $35.00 in a report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on PPL from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Bank of America boosted their target price on PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com upgraded PPL from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $32.64.

PPL Stock Performance

Shares of PPL opened at $30.50 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $28.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.81. PPL has a 52 week low of $22.20 and a 52 week high of $31.45.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. PPL had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 9.29%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that PPL will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were issued a $0.2575 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.38%. PPL’s payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in PPL by 83.9% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 318,821 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,815,000 after acquiring an additional 145,446 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its stake in PPL by 44.3% in the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,662,213 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,960,000 after acquiring an additional 510,263 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in PPL by 10.1% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 95,248 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,634,000 after acquiring an additional 8,732 shares during the last quarter. Andra AP fonden bought a new position in PPL in the second quarter valued at $1,029,000. Finally, United Services Automobile Association increased its stake in PPL by 12.6% in the second quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 12,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $346,000 after acquiring an additional 1,398 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

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.