Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Receives $116.36 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $117.07.

DUK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $138.00 target price for the company. Bank of America boosted their price target on Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on Duke Energy from $121.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:DUK opened at $115.30 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $113.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. Duke Energy has a twelve month low of $83.06 and a twelve month high of $118.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.97, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.47.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.84 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 14.29%. The company’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Duke Energy will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. This is a boost from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 105.03%.

Insider Activity at Duke Energy

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

Institutional Trading of Duke Energy

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 109.4% in the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,374 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $425,000 after buying an additional 2,285 shares in the last quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 26,873 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,608,000 after purchasing an additional 1,841 shares in the last quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE acquired a new stake in Duke Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $255,000. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV grew its position in Duke Energy by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 4,610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $447,000 after buying an additional 481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Wealth Advisors raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors now owns 4,798 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $466,000 after buying an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Duke Energy

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.