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

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

DUK has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Evercore ISI raised Duke Energy from an in-line rating to an outperform rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $108.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Mizuho lifted their price target on Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays lifted their price target on Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised Duke Energy from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating and lifted their target price for the company from $101.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $101.17.

Duke Energy Price Performance

NYSE:DUK opened at $98.24 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $94.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $93.32. The firm has a market cap of $75.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.67, a PEG 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. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $7.21 billion during 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.11 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Duke Energy will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Duke Energy

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DUK. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 100,433.2% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,846,616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $808,123,000 after purchasing an additional 7,838,811 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 106.1% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,006,373 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $291,739,000 after purchasing an additional 1,547,868 shares during the last quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 8,722.3% in the 2nd quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 1,127,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $112,784,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115,053 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,030,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $779,256,000 after purchasing an additional 1,071,075 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,018,171 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,031,772,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037,012 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Duke Energy

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.