PPL Corporation (PPL) Rating Increased to Hold at BidaskClub

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) was upgraded by stock analysts at BidaskClub from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Friday.

PPL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Barclays PLC reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $41.00 price objective (up from $38.00) on shares of PPL Corporation in a research note on Sunday, April 23rd. Zacks Investment Research raised PPL Corporation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 12th. Jefferies Group LLC raised PPL Corporation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $39.50 to $42.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (The) raised PPL Corporation from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Monday, June 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. The company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.72.

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) traded up 0.39% during trading on Friday, reaching $38.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,088,331 shares. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.31 and a beta of 0.49. PPL Corporation has a 52-week low of $32.08 and a 52-week high of $40.20. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $38.35 and its 200 day moving average is $37.86.

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.02. PPL Corporation had a return on equity of 15.96% and a net margin of 22.08%. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.79 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that PPL Corporation will post $2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other news, VP Joseph P. Bergstein, Jr. sold 2,929 shares of PPL Corporation stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.55, for a total transaction of $112,912.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Vincent Sorgi sold 5,600 shares of PPL Corporation stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.00, for a total value of $218,400.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 97 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,783. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 19,740 shares of company stock worth $773,067 in the last three months. 0.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kistler Tiffany Companies LLC increased its position in PPL Corporation by 0.4% in the first quarter. Kistler Tiffany Companies LLC now owns 4,084 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $153,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in PPL Corporation by 6.1% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $161,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the period. Focused Wealth Management Inc increased its position in PPL Corporation by 352.0% in the first quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc now owns 4,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $163,000 after buying an additional 3,400 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in PPL Corporation by 0.9% in the first quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $165,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its position in PPL Corporation by 11.3% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 4,933 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $184,000 after buying an additional 499 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.00% of the company’s stock.

About PPL Corporation

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.