Community Trust & Investment Co. Purchases New Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Community Trust & Investment Co. purchased a new stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $506,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,675,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,835,047,000 after acquiring an additional 324,289 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 3.2% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,493,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,111,521,000 after purchasing an additional 352,320 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 1.7% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,471,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $247,672,000 after purchasing an additional 40,243 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 65.7% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $205,769,000 after purchasing an additional 813,744 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC boosted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 1.6% during the first quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 1,973,369 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $190,845,000 after purchasing an additional 31,309 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.85.

Duke Energy Stock Down 0.0 %

Duke Energy stock opened at $119.88 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.52 billion, a PE ratio of 30.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s 50-day moving average is $115.25 and its 200-day moving average is $107.15. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $85.79 and a fifty-two week high of $121.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.53.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.84 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.29% and a return on equity of 9.71%. Duke Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is 105.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total transaction of $61,365.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,259,617.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Duke Energy 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.