Short Interest in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Declines By 6.4%

Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,800,000 shares, a drop of 6.4% from the July 15th total of 9,400,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,880,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on DUK shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $94.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Duke Energy from $99.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Duke Energy from $99.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $110.15.

Duke Energy Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE DUK opened at $112.71 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market cap of $86.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45. Duke Energy has a 12-month low of $83.06 and a 12-month high of $116.67. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $105.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.18.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its 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. The company had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.84 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.25% and a net margin of 10.78%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Duke Energy will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This is a positive change from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is currently 105.03%.

Insider Activity at Duke Energy

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total value of $61,365.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,259,617.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in DUK. Howard Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Duke Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $219,000. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP grew its stake in Duke Energy by 39.4% in the fourth quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 2,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $226,000 after acquiring an additional 657 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 3.2% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 435,157 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,084,000 after acquiring an additional 13,406 shares in the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 57.8% during the first quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 27,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,618,000 after purchasing an additional 9,917 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 182.5% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 39,014 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,786,000 after purchasing an additional 25,203 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Company Profile

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.