PPL (NYSE:PPL) Posts Earnings Results

PPL (NYSE:PPL) posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. PPL had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 8.45%. The firm had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company 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 Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PPL traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $27.92. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,981,158 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,994,902. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $20.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.81. PPL has a 12-month low of $22.20 and a 12-month high of $28.93.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $0.2575 dividend. This is an increase from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 103.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on PPL. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of PPL from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of PPL from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.09.

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.