Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) Earns “In-Line” Rating from Evercore

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK)‘s stock had its “in-line” rating reissued by investment analysts at Evercore in a research note issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $139.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Evercore’s price target points to a potential upside of 6.60% from the company’s previous close.

DUK has been the subject of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Duke Energy from $136.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $135.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $139.00 target price on Duke Energy in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Mizuho set a $130.00 price target on Duke Energy in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $136.87.

Duke Energy Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of DUK stock traded down $1.49 during trading on Thursday, hitting $130.39. 154,876 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,286,553. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.55. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $121.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.24. Duke Energy has a twelve month low of $111.22 and a twelve month high of $132.65.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.01. Duke Energy had a net margin of 15.41% and a return on equity of 9.66%. The company had revenue of $7.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.66 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Duke Energy will post 6.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Duke Energy

In other news, SVP Regis T. Repko sold 962 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.86, for a total transaction of $123,001.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 3,896 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $498,142.56. This represents a 19.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Louis E. Renjel sold 6,800 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.67, for a total value of $868,156.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 22,007 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,809,633.69. This trade represents a 23.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Duke Energy

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. SHP Wealth Management bought a new position in Duke Energy in the fourth quarter worth $247,000. S Harris Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $207,000. CFO Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $685,000. Clearwave Capital LLC bought a new stake in Duke Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $303,000. Finally, Oak Grove Capital LLC raised its position in Duke Energy by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Oak Grove Capital LLC now owns 119,750 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,036,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

About Duke Energy

Duke Energy Corporation is a U.S.-based electric power holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company’s core business is the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Duke Energy operates a mix of regulated electric utilities and non-regulated energy businesses, providing essential energy infrastructure and services across multiple states.

Its operating activities include owning and operating generation assets across a portfolio that encompasses nuclear, natural gas, coal, hydroelectric and an expanding array of renewable resources, as well as battery storage and grid modernization projects.