Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Position Lowered by Stokes Capital Advisors LLC

Stokes Capital Advisors LLC reduced its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 482 shares during the quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $276,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Duke Energy by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,675,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,835,047,000 after acquiring an additional 324,289 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 3.2% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Duke Energy by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,515,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $799,599,000 after purchasing an additional 842,458 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Duke Energy by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,113,443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $787,328,000 after buying an additional 42,782 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,351,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $228,193,000 after buying an additional 84,227 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DUK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on Duke Energy from $94.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $110.15.

Duke Energy Price Performance

NYSE DUK traded up $0.23 on Friday, reaching $112.30. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,642,700 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,957,009. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $105.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $100.08. The stock has a market cap of $86.67 billion, a PE ratio of 28.22, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $83.06 and a twelve month high of $116.67.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.84 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 10.78% and a return on equity of 9.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.72%. This is a boost from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 105.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total value of $61,365.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,259,617.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.10% 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.