Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Short Interest Down 6.7% in June

Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,910,000 shares, a drop of 6.7% from the May 31st total of 10,620,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,740,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.6 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Duke Energy from $103.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Duke Energy

In other Duke Energy news, CEO Lynn J. Good sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total transaction of $1,549,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 437,464 shares in the company, valued at $45,190,031.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Duke Energy news, EVP Julia S. Janson sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.79, for a total transaction of $1,027,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 68,657 shares in the company, valued at $7,057,253.03. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Lynn J. Good sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total value of $1,549,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 437,464 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,190,031.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,695 shares of company stock worth $2,750,815 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Duke Energy

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,675,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,835,047,000 after purchasing an additional 324,289 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 4.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 23,010,030 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,030,865,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002,157 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,493,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,111,521,000 after acquiring an additional 352,320 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,468,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $923,907,000 after acquiring an additional 492,011 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,515,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $799,599,000 after acquiring an additional 842,458 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Duke Energy stock opened at $99.84 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $101.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $97.47. 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 $77.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.09, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.45. Duke Energy has a fifty-two week low of $83.06 and a fifty-two week high of $104.87.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $7.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.31 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.25% and a net margin of 10.78%. The business’s revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Duke Energy will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a dividend of $1.025 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $4.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.11%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is 103.02%.

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.