Duke Energy Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:DUK)

Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors bought 5,225 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 50% compared to the average daily volume of 3,478 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DUK has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $101.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $103.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total transaction of $277,710.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,315,697.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Duke Energy

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in DUK. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO now owns 3,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $328,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Breakwater Capital Group raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 3.9% during the first quarter. Breakwater Capital Group now owns 2,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 7,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $771,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Chemung Canal Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Chemung Canal Trust Co. now owns 14,483 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,405,000 after buying an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verum Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Duke Energy by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Verum Partners LLC now owns 3,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $372,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Duke Energy stock opened at $98.11 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $94.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.52. The firm has a market cap of $75.69 billion, a PE ratio of 27.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Duke Energy has a 52-week low of $83.06 and a 52-week high of $100.39.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.02). Duke Energy had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 8.93%. The company had revenue of $7.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.11 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Duke Energy will post 5.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.