Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $122.23.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on DUK shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $138.00 target price for the company. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Scotiabank upped their target price on Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd.

Institutional Trading of Duke Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its position in Duke Energy by 11,471.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,500,000 after purchasing an additional 6,719,398 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the 3rd quarter worth $2,537,000. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new stake in Duke Energy in the third quarter valued at about $166,263,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Duke Energy by 13,829.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,125,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,782,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117,526 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 65.7% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $205,769,000 after acquiring an additional 813,744 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of DUK stock opened at $108.30 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $111.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $111.62. Duke Energy has a one year low of $90.09 and a one year high of $121.25. The stock has a market cap of $83.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.94 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Duke Energy will post 5.95 EPS for the current year.

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.