PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) Upgraded to “Buy” by Jefferies Group LLC

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) was upgraded by stock analysts at Jefferies Group LLC from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday, The Fly reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on PPL. Barclays PLC reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $41.00 target price (up from $38.00) on shares of PPL Corporation in a research note on Sunday, April 23rd. UBS AG cut shares of PPL Corporation from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 29th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of PPL Corporation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 12th. Deutsche Bank AG lifted their target price on shares of PPL Corporation from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 11th. Finally, BidaskClub cut shares of PPL Corporation from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. PPL Corporation presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.80.

Shares of PPL Corporation (PPL) opened at 37.69 on Wednesday. PPL Corporation has a 12 month low of $32.08 and a 12 month high of $40.20. The firm has a market cap of $25.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.12 and a beta of 0.50. The company’s 50-day moving average is $38.89 and its 200-day moving average is $37.28.

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, meeting the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.62. PPL Corporation had a net margin of 24.46% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that PPL Corporation will post $2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In other PPL Corporation news, insider Gregory N. Dudkin sold 8,228 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total transaction of $325,417.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 39,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,569,858.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Tompkins Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of PPL Corporation by 114.3% in the first quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 3,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $114,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Kistler Tiffany Companies LLC increased its stake in shares of PPL Corporation by 0.4% in the first quarter. Kistler Tiffany Companies LLC now owns 4,084 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $153,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of PPL Corporation by 6.1% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $161,000 after buying an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc increased its stake in shares of PPL Corporation by 352.0% in the first quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc now owns 4,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $163,000 after buying an additional 3,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of PPL Corporation by 0.9% in the first quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $165,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.03% of the company’s stock.

PPL Corporation Company Profile

PPL Corporation (PPL) is a utility holding company. Through its subsidiaries, PPL delivers electricity to customers in the United Kingdom, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee; delivers natural gas to customers in Kentucky, and generates electricity from power plants in Kentucky. PPL operates through U.K.