Duke Energy Corporation $DUK Stock Position Trimmed by Strategic Advisors LLC

Strategic Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) by 86.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,475 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 58,266 shares during the period. Strategic Advisors LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,199,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DUK. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,292,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,266,675,000 after buying an additional 230,375 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,931,127 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,046,818,000 after acquiring an additional 58,375 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Duke Energy by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,236,893 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $965,446,000 after acquiring an additional 954,907 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Duke Energy by 0.4% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,758,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $960,139,000 after acquiring an additional 31,703 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Duke Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $605,680,000. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DUK has been the subject of several research reports. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $139.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Evercore increased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $139.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $138.00 to $133.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Mizuho set a $136.00 price objective on Duke Energy in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.94.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Duke Energy stock opened at $120.20 on Monday. Duke Energy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $113.89 and a fifty-two week high of $134.49. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $125.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $126.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $93.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.38.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $7.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.66 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 15.78% and a return on equity of 9.78%. The company’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.25 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Duke Energy Corporation will post 6.72 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a $1.085 dividend. This represents a $4.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is a positive change from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.06. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is currently 65.17%.

Duke Energy Profile

Duke Energy Corporation is a U.S.-based electric power holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company’s core business is the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Duke Energy operates a mix of regulated electric utilities and non-regulated energy businesses, providing essential energy infrastructure and services across multiple states.

Its operating activities include owning and operating generation assets across a portfolio that encompasses nuclear, natural gas, coal, hydroelectric and an expanding array of renewable resources, as well as battery storage and grid modernization projects.