Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) Given New $131.00 Price Target at Scotiabank

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) had its target price cut by Scotiabank from $146.00 to $131.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday. Scotiabank’s price objective points to a potential upside of 14.79% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on DUK. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $134.00 to $132.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Duke Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 19th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $139.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $136.62.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:DUK opened at $114.12 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.14, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.66. Duke Energy has a fifty-two week low of $112.40 and a fifty-two week high of $134.49. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $121.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $124.97.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $7.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.66 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.78% and a net margin of 15.78%.Duke Energy’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.25 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Duke Energy will post 6.72 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Duke Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,236,893 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $965,446,000 after buying an additional 954,907 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the second quarter valued at $605,680,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 5,254.4% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,735,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $358,227,000 after buying an additional 2,684,721 shares in the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its position in Duke Energy by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,678,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $314,250,000 after buying an additional 234,810 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,282,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $298,850,000 after buying an additional 151,400 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Duke Energy

Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE: DUK) is an energy holding company that operates regulated electric and natural gas utilities in the United States. Its electric utilities generate, transmit, distribute and sell electricity to residential, commercial, industrial and other customers.

The company serves customers across the Carolinas, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. Duke Energy also operates natural gas utilities and related infrastructure in several states, including North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.