Duke Energy Corporation $DUK Shares Newly Purchased by R Squared Ltd

R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,704 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $650,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the second quarter worth approximately $605,680,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Duke Energy by 5,254.4% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,735,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $358,227,000 after purchasing an additional 2,684,721 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 7.1% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,282,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $298,850,000 after buying an additional 151,400 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 2.9% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,092,284 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $273,979,000 after buying an additional 58,967 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 1.8% during the second quarter. National Pension Service now owns 2,124,004 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $268,856,000 after buying an additional 36,835 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Latest Duke Energy News

Investors following DUK have been watching these news items:

• Positive Sentiment: Duke Energy Florida plans four solar sites totaling 300 MW, paired with battery storage, and forecasts about $1 billion in customer savings over the projects’ lifetimes. The additions could support reliability and provide a lower-cost source of power, though the savings are not a direct earnings estimate. What Could Duke Energy Gain From Four New Florida Solar Sites?
• Negative Sentiment: Florida regulators rejected Duke Energy Florida’s proposal for handling data-center-related costs, citing ratepayer protections. This creates uncertainty about cost recovery and how the utility can serve large new customers. Florida regulators reject Duke Energy data-center plan
• Negative Sentiment: Duke’s push for additional North Carolina natural-gas plants to serve growing data-center demand is facing opposition, raising potential political, permitting and planning risks. Opposition to Duke Energy’s North Carolina gas-plant plans

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Mizuho set a $136.00 price objective on Duke Energy in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 12th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $134.00 to $132.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $132.19.

Duke Energy Stock Down 0.1%

DUK opened at $128.59 on Friday. Duke Energy Corporation has a twelve month low of $112.40 and a twelve month high of $134.49. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $120.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $124.71. The stock has a market cap of $100.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.80, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $9.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.91 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 15.94% and a return on equity of 9.82%. Duke Energy’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.81 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Duke Energy Corporation will post 6.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.0850 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 13th. This represents a $4.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is currently 63.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Bonnie Titone sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.00, for a total transaction of $371,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 26,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,342,208. This represents a 10.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Profile

Duke Energy is a U.S. energy company focused primarily on regulated electric utilities and natural gas distribution. Its businesses generate, transmit and distribute electricity, and provide natural gas service to residential, commercial and industrial customers. The company serves electric customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. Its natural gas distribution operations serve customers in several states, including North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.