Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) Raised to "Outperform" at Scotiabank

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Scotiabank from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage presently has a $137.00 target price on the utilities provider's stock. Scotiabank's target price suggests a potential upside of 10.86% from the company's previous close.

DUK has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $129.00 to $127.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Duke Energy from $131.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $127.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $127.00 target price (up from $124.00) on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Duke Energy from $122.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $132.25.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DUK opened at $123.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market cap of $96.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.44. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $122.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $119.61. Duke Energy has a one year low of $105.20 and a one year high of $127.85.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by ($0.04). Duke Energy had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 9.85%. The business had revenue of $7.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. The company's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Duke Energy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.170-6.420 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Duke Energy will post 6.33 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Duke Energy

In related news, EVP Thomas Preston Jr. Gillespie sold 6,700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.26, for a total transaction of $832,542.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,422 shares in the company, valued at $5,768,397.72. This represents a 12.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Bonnie B. Titone sold 2,000 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.38, for a total value of $248,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 19,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,438,843.04. This represents a 9.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Duke Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 11,417.7% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,668,789 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,084,917,000 after acquiring an additional 17,515,383 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC raised its position in Duke Energy by 17,880.0% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 10,249,508 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,250,133,000 after purchasing an additional 10,192,503 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the first quarter valued at about $702,351,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 88.1% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,861,309 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $592,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,276,948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 2.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 74,562,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $9,094,327,000 after buying an additional 1,676,061 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.