Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) Price Target Cut to $99.00

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) had its target price trimmed by BMO Capital Markets from $101.00 to $99.00 in a research note published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

DUK has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Duke Energy from $103.00 to $100.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Duke Energy from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating and increased their target price for the stock from $101.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Evercore ISI raised Duke Energy from an in-line rating to an outperform rating and increased their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $108.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $101.17.

Duke Energy Stock Up 2.4 %

DUK opened at $98.24 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $94.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $93.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The company has a market cap of $75.79 billion, a PE ratio of 27.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.46. Duke Energy has a 52 week low of $83.06 and a 52 week high of $100.39.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $7.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.24 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 9.78%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.11 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Duke Energy will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Duke Energy

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total transaction of $277,710.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,213 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,315,697.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Duke Energy

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the first quarter worth $40,000. Cibc World Market Inc. raised its position in Duke Energy by 1.2% in the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 47,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,276,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Duke Energy by 29.5% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,751 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,089,000 after purchasing an additional 2,223 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd raised its position in Duke Energy by 447.8% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,260 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $141,000 after purchasing an additional 1,030 shares during the period. Finally, Mather Group LLC. raised its position in Duke Energy by 5.2% in the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 6,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $726,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

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.