Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Short Interest Down 8.7% in December

Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,300,000 shares, a decrease of 8.7% from the December 15th total of 9,090,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,300,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DUK opened at $109.34 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. The company has a market capitalization of $84.47 billion, a PE ratio of 20.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $110.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $111.97. Duke Energy has a twelve month low of $90.09 and a twelve month high of $121.25.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($0.11). Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. The business had revenue of $8.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Duke Energy will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DUK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho upgraded Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.23.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 2.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,488,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,016,846,000 after purchasing an additional 442,302 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 11,471.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,500,000 after buying an additional 6,719,398 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank increased its position in Duke Energy by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,290,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $264,111,000 after buying an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new position in Duke Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,537,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 65.7% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $205,769,000 after acquiring an additional 813,744 shares in the last quarter. 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.