Morgan Stanley Increases PPL (NYSE:PPL) Price Target to $38.00

PPL (NYSE:PPL) had its target price increased by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $35.00 to $38.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 9.27% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of PPL from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of PPL in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of PPL from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PPL has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.27.

PPL Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE PPL opened at $34.78 on Thursday. PPL has a twelve month low of $25.93 and a twelve month high of $35.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market cap of $25.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.74, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.76. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $33.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.19.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.03). PPL had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 8.88%. The company had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.09 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that PPL will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PPL news, insider Christine M. Martin sold 1,146 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.78, for a total transaction of $39,857.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 37,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,292,668.26. The trade was a 2.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Tadd J. Henninger sold 1,424 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.48, for a total transaction of $47,675.52. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $376,951.32. This represents a 11.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,140 shares of company stock valued at $173,005 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PPL. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of PPL by 8,266.9% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 9,518,141 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $309,060,000 after buying an additional 9,404,382 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of PPL during the fourth quarter valued at about $228,509,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of PPL during the fourth quarter valued at about $147,480,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of PPL by 12.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 34,758,947 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,115,824,000 after buying an additional 3,731,412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of PPL by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 27,465,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $891,532,000 after buying an additional 3,380,745 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

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.