Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC Invests $200,000 in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 1,739 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in DUK. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 65.7% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $205,769,000 after acquiring an additional 813,744 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 9,923.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 769,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $77,103,000 after acquiring an additional 761,590 shares in the last quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the first quarter worth about $36,278,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Duke Energy by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,675,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,835,047,000 after purchasing an additional 324,289 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DUK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $138.00 price objective for the company. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $121.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $120.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,884 shares in the company, valued at $2,259,617.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of DUK stock opened at $114.18 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.03, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $114.38 and its 200 day moving average is $105.88. Duke Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $85.79 and a 12 month high of $118.31.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.84 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.29% and a return on equity of 9.71%. Duke Energy’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.98%.

Duke Energy 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.