Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $122.23.

DUK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho raised shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. KeyCorp cut shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Duke Energy

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DUK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 11,471.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $781,500,000 after purchasing an additional 6,719,398 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the third quarter worth $2,537,000. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the third quarter valued at about $166,263,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 155.1% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,873,321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $201,832,000 after buying an additional 1,138,979 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Duke Energy by 13,829.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,125,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $129,782,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117,526 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Duke Energy Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:DUK opened at $109.86 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $84.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.20, a PEG ratio of 2.71 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 has a 12 month low of $90.09 and a 12 month high of $121.25. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $110.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.29.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($0.11). Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. The firm had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.94 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Duke Energy will post 5.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.84%.

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.