Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Short Interest Update

Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 11,630,000 shares, a growth of 9.4% from the August 31st total of 10,630,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,930,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.0 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on DUK. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $118.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Duke Energy

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total value of $61,365.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,259,617.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Duke Energy

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,675,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,835,047,000 after buying an additional 324,289 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,493,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,111,521,000 after purchasing an additional 352,320 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,471,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $247,672,000 after purchasing an additional 40,243 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted 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 buying an additional 813,744 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its position in Duke Energy by 1.6% during the first quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 1,973,369 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $190,845,000 after buying an additional 31,309 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Duke Energy stock traded up $0.92 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $116.22. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,729,301 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,982,883. Duke Energy has a 52 week low of $83.06 and a 52 week high of $118.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $113.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.00. The company has a market capitalization of $89.69 billion, a PE ratio of 29.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.47.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.84 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 14.29%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.91 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Duke Energy will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $1.045 dividend. This is a positive change from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 105.03%.

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.