Scotiabank Raises Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) Price Target to $113.00

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) had its target price hoisted by Scotiabank from $104.00 to $113.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “sector perform” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 0.26% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $110.85.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

DUK stock opened at $112.71 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market cap of $86.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $106.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $100.38. Duke Energy has a 52 week low of $83.06 and a 52 week high of $116.67.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.84 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 10.78% and a return on equity of 9.25%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Duke Energy will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total transaction of $61,365.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,259,617.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Duke Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DUK. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in Duke Energy during the first quarter worth $25,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in Duke Energy during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Duke Energy during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 69.6% during the second quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 290 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in Duke Energy during the first quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Company Profile

Duke Energy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy company in the United States. It operates through two segments: Electric Utilities and Infrastructure (EU&I), and Gas Utilities and Infrastructure (GU&I). The EU&I segment generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electricity in the Carolinas, Florida, and the Midwest.