Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,300,000 shares, a decline of 8.7% from the December 15th total of 9,090,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,300,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

DUK stock opened at $109.34 on Monday. Duke Energy has a 1-year low of $90.09 and a 1-year high of $121.25. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $110.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $111.97. The firm has a market cap of $84.47 billion, a PE ratio of 20.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. The company had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.94 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Duke Energy will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is 76.84%.

Institutional Trading of Duke Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 15.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,816,758 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $182,101,000 after purchasing an additional 240,136 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in Duke Energy by 2.7% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 155,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,566,000 after acquiring an additional 4,087 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 8.3% in the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 48,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,870,000 after acquiring an additional 3,713 shares during the last quarter. Trust Investment Advisors increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Trust Investment Advisors now owns 13,024 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,305,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 8.6% during the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 35,368 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,545,000 after purchasing an additional 2,814 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp cut shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho raised Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays increased their price target on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.23.

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.