Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) Price Target Increased to $114.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) had its price objective boosted by Morgan Stanley from $99.00 to $114.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on DUK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Duke Energy from $94.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $110.15.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of Duke Energy stock traded down $0.84 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $112.27. 1,238,751 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,948,124. The company has a quick ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. The business has a 50-day moving average of $105.44 and a 200 day moving average of $99.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.65 billion, a PE ratio of 28.42, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45. Duke Energy has a fifty-two week low of $83.06 and a fifty-two week high of $116.67.

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

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 is an increase from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 105.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Duke Energy

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total transaction of $61,365.60. Following 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Duke Energy by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,675,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,835,047,000 after acquiring an additional 324,289 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 3.2% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,493,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,111,521,000 after purchasing an additional 352,320 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Duke Energy by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,515,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $799,599,000 after purchasing an additional 842,458 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Duke Energy by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,113,443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $787,328,000 after buying an additional 42,782 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 40,243 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.