Keene & Associates Inc. Sells 141 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Keene & Associates Inc. decreased its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 0.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 33,017 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 141 shares during the quarter. Duke Energy accounts for 2.7% of Keene & Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Keene & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $3,309,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Bruce & Co. Inc. boosted its position in Duke Energy by 0.9% during the second quarter. Bruce & Co. Inc. now owns 205,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $20,629,000 after buying an additional 1,926 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 32.0% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 24,634 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,469,000 after acquiring an additional 5,977 shares during the period. Pine Harbor Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Duke Energy by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. Pine Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,449 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $346,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Duke Energy by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 29,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,957,000 after purchasing an additional 647 shares during the period. Finally, Williams Financial LLC bought a new stake in Duke Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $593,000. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total transaction of $61,365.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,259,617.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on DUK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price 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, August 15th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.92.

Duke Energy Stock Up 1.2 %

DUK stock opened at $117.31 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $111.20 and a 200 day moving average of $103.12. The firm has a market cap of $90.54 billion, a PE ratio of 29.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.47. Duke Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $83.06 and a twelve month high of $118.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.84 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 14.29%. The company’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.56%. This is an increase from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 105.03%.

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.