Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK – Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $105.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $107.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, January 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $111.00 to $103.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $116.00 to $112.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, December 9th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $106.64.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of DUK stock opened at $96.39 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $74.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.03, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.70. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $99.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $98.95. Duke Energy has a 52 week low of $83.76 and a 52 week high of $116.33.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $7.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.27 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 8.45%. Duke Energy’s revenue was up 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Duke Energy will post 5.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 16th. Investors of record on Friday, February 17th were given a dividend of $1.005 per share. This represents a $4.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 16th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 121.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Louis E. Renjel sold 1,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.90, for a total transaction of $189,810.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $995,703.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Duke Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new position in Duke Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its position in Duke Energy by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 47,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,276,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Duke Energy by 29.5% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,751 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,089,000 after acquiring an additional 2,223 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd increased its position in Duke Energy by 447.8% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,260 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $141,000 after acquiring an additional 1,030 shares during the period. Finally, Mather Group LLC. increased its position in Duke Energy by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 6,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $726,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares during the period. 63.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Duke Energy

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Duke Energy Corp. engages in the distribution of natural gas and energy related services. It operates through the following segments: Electric Utilities and Infrastructure, Gas Utilities & Infrastructure and Commercial Renewables. The Electric Utilities and Infrastructure segment conducts operations in regulated electric utilities in the Carolinas, Florida and the Midwest.