Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Scotiabank Analyst Says

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) had its target price upped by Scotiabank from $113.00 to $120.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “sector perform” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Scotiabank’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 10.28% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on DUK. Mizuho raised Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $138.00 price target for the company. KeyCorp lowered shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.23.

Duke Energy Stock Down 0.3 %

Duke Energy stock opened at $108.81 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $114.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $110.80. Duke Energy has a one year low of $90.09 and a one year high of $121.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.70.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly 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). The firm had revenue of $8.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. Duke Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.94 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Duke Energy will post 5.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,488,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,016,846,000 after purchasing an additional 442,302 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $781,500,000 after buying an additional 6,719,398 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Duke Energy by 1.7% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,471,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $247,672,000 after buying an additional 40,243 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,290,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $264,111,000 after acquiring an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new stake in Duke Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,537,000. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.