Brokerages Set Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) PT at $100.00

Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $100.00.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $101.00 to $113.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $101.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $103.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Duke Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $105.00 to $96.00 in a report on Monday, February 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Duke Energy

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total value of $277,710.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,315,697.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DUK. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in Duke Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Duke Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. O Dell Group LLC acquired a new stake in Duke Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. CKW Financial Group acquired a new stake in Duke Energy during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Duke Energy during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Price Performance

NYSE:DUK opened at $96.12 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market cap of $74.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $94.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $93.02. Duke Energy has a 1-year low of $83.06 and a 1-year high of $100.39.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $7.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.24 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 8.93%. Duke Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.11 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Duke Energy will post 5.98 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were given a $1.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $4.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.27%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is currently 115.49%.

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.