Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $113.92.

Several equities analysts recently commented on DUK shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Scotiabank upped their price target on Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 transaction of $61,365.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,884 shares in the company, valued at $2,259,617.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 4,163.9% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 882,552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $85,352,000 after buying an additional 861,854 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $799,599,000 after purchasing an additional 842,458 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Duke Energy by 65.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $205,769,000 after buying an additional 813,744 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 9,923.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 769,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $77,103,000 after buying an additional 761,590 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,141,020 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,081,125,000 after acquiring an additional 509,039 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Up 0.3 %

DUK stock opened at $112.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.50. The company has a 50-day moving average of $107.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $101.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45. Duke Energy has a 52-week low of $83.06 and a 52-week high of $116.67.

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

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. This is a positive change from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.70%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 105.03%.

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.