Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC Takes $332,000 Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Muirfield Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 3,425 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $332,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DUK. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Duke Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Duke Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Duke Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in Duke Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Duke Energy news, CEO Lynn J. Good sold 15,000 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total value of $1,549,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 437,464 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,190,031.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director E Marie Mckee sold 1,695 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.31, for a total transaction of $173,415.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4 shares in the company, valued at approximately $409.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lynn J. Good sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total value of $1,549,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 437,464 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,190,031.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 26,695 shares of company stock valued at $2,750,815 in the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays raised their target price on Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Duke Energy from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Duke Energy from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. KeyCorp lifted 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. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Duke Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.75.

Duke Energy Price Performance

DUK traded down $1.48 on Monday, hitting $100.88. 1,719,822 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,946,950. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $100.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.01. The firm has a market cap of $77.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.45. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $83.06 and a one year high of $104.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54.

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

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $1.025 dividend. This represents a $4.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is 103.02%.

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.