Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK)

Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 34,407 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 615% compared to the average daily volume of 4,811 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on DUK shares. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $94.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $110.15.

Insider Buying and Selling at Duke Energy

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total transaction of $61,365.60. Following the completion of the sale, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate 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 company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 4,163.9% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 882,552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $85,352,000 after buying an additional 861,854 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Duke Energy by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,515,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $799,599,000 after acquiring an additional 842,458 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in Duke Energy by 65.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,769,000 after acquiring an additional 813,744 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in Duke Energy by 9,923.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 769,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,103,000 after acquiring an additional 761,590 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Duke Energy by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,141,020 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,081,125,000 after acquiring an additional 509,039 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Duke Energy stock traded down $0.46 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $113.00. 1,362,069 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,950,756. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $105.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $99.81. Duke Energy has a twelve month low of $83.06 and a twelve month high of $116.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. The company has a market cap of $87.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.84 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 10.78% and a return on equity of 9.25%. The company’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Duke Energy will post 5.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.70%. This is an increase from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is currently 105.03%.

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.