Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) Price Target Raised to $122.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) had its price objective increased by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $110.00 to $122.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 6.56% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on DUK. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $101.00 to $94.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. KeyCorp upped their price target on Duke Energy from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Duke Energy from $103.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $105.92.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Duke Energy stock traded up $1.57 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $114.49. The company had a trading volume of 794,288 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,934,260. Duke Energy has a one year low of $83.06 and a one year high of $116.67. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $103.98 and a 200 day moving average of $99.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market cap of $88.36 billion, a PE ratio of 28.76, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.16. Duke Energy had a net margin of 10.78% and a return on equity of 9.25%. The company had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Duke Energy will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Duke Energy

In other news, CEO Lynn J. Good sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total value of $1,549,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 437,464 shares in the company, valued at $45,190,031.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Duke Energy news, CEO Lynn J. Good sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total value of $1,549,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 437,464 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,190,031.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director E Marie Mckee sold 1,695 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.31, for a total value of $173,415.45. Following the sale, the director now owns 4 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $409.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,695 shares of company stock worth $2,750,815. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 21,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,122,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in Duke Energy by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,891 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $183,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 15,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,516,000 after acquiring an additional 1,615 shares in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $120,000. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 77,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,532,000 after purchasing an additional 5,312 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

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.