Pineridge Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 649 Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 649 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $63,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 4.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 23,010,030 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,030,865,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,157 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 9,164.0% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 979,294 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $95,031,000 after purchasing an additional 968,723 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,515,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $799,599,000 after purchasing an additional 842,458 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 242.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,044,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $101,348,000 after purchasing an additional 739,112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in Duke Energy by 11.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,205,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $635,952,000 after buying an additional 715,069 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on DUK. Barclays lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Mizuho upped their price target on Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $101.00 to $94.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.75.

Insider Activity

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Julia S. Janson sold 10,000 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.79, for a total value of $1,027,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 68,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,057,253.03. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Duke Energy news, Director E Marie Mckee sold 1,695 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.31, for a total transaction of $173,415.45. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $409.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Julia S. Janson sold 10,000 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.79, for a total transaction of $1,027,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 68,657 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,057,253.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,695 shares of company stock valued at $2,750,815 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:DUK traded up $1.10 during trading on Friday, reaching $102.36. 2,668,062 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,517,638. Duke Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $83.06 and a 52-week high of $104.87. The stock has a market cap of $79.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $100.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $96.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 0.78.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $7.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.31 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.25% and a net margin of 10.78%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $1.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $4.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.01%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 103.02%.

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.