PPL (PPL) Competitors

PPL (NYSE:PPL) and Southern (NYSE:SO) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their community ranking, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, media sentiment, institutional ownership, earnings and profitability.

Is PPL or SO a better dividend stock?

PPL pays an annual dividend of $1.09 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Southern pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. PPL pays out 90.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Southern pays out 71.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Southern has increased its dividend for 24 consecutive years. Southern is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts prefer PPL or SO?

PPL presently has a consensus target price of $35.70, suggesting a potential upside of 0.56%. Southern has a consensus target price of $92.00, suggesting a potential upside of 0.82%. Given Southern's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Southern is more favorable than PPL.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PPL	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80
Southern	0 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.36

Does the MarketBeat Community favor PPL or SO?

PPL received 54 more outperform votes than Southern when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.76% of users gave PPL an outperform vote while only 49.49% of users gave Southern an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
PPL	Outperform Votes 590 60.76%	Underperform Votes 381 39.24%
Southern	Outperform Votes 536 49.49%	Underperform Votes 547 50.51%

Which has better valuation & earnings, PPL or SO?

Southern has higher revenue and earnings than PPL. Southern is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than PPL, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PPL	$8.46B	3.10	$888M	$1.21	29.34
Southern	$26.72B	3.75	$3.98B	$4.01	22.76

Does the media prefer PPL or SO?

In the previous week, Southern had 28 more articles in the media than PPL. MarketBeat recorded 34 mentions for Southern and 6 mentions for PPL. Southern's average media sentiment score of 1.23 beat PPL's score of 0.44 indicating that Southern is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
PPL	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Southern	22 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in PPL or SO?

77.0% of PPL shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.1% of Southern shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of PPL shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Southern shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is PPL or SO more profitable?

Southern has a net margin of 16.47% compared to PPL's net margin of 10.49%. Southern's return on equity of 12.23% beat PPL's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PPL	10.49%	8.88%	3.11%
Southern	16.47%	12.23%	3.11%

Which has more risk and volatility, PPL or SO?

PPL has a beta of 0.65, indicating that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southern has a beta of 0.39, indicating that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Southern beats PPL on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.