Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) PT Raised to $120.00 at Morgan Stanley

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) had its price objective lifted by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $114.00 to $120.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective points to a potential upside of 4.19% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on DUK. Bank of America lifted their price target on Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays upped their target price on Duke Energy from $99.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $116.79.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of DUK stock opened at $115.17 on Wednesday. Duke Energy has a 52-week low of $83.06 and a 52-week high of $118.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. The stock has a market cap of $88.93 billion, a PE ratio of 28.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $113.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $104.36.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.84 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 14.29%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.91 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Duke Energy will post 5.97 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Duke Energy

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total value of $61,365.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,259,617.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Duke Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased 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 purchasing an additional 813,744 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 9,923.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 769,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $77,103,000 after purchasing an additional 761,590 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,141,020 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,081,125,000 after purchasing an additional 509,039 shares during the last quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $41,874,000. Finally, Morningstar Investment Services LLC increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 96.1% during the 4th quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 789,612 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $76,529,000 after purchasing an additional 387,038 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.