Iowa State Bank Lowers Stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Iowa State Bank lessened its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,730 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,791 shares during the period. Iowa State Bank’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $2,851,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 435,157 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,084,000 after acquiring an additional 13,406 shares during the period. Duality Advisers LP lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 57.8% in the 1st quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 27,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,618,000 after acquiring an additional 9,917 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 63.8% in the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 44,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,324,000 after acquiring an additional 17,420 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 9.4% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 108,819 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,520,000 after purchasing an additional 9,334 shares during the period. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the second quarter valued at about $2,888,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $121.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price 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, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $120.15.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Duke Energy stock opened at $114.18 on Friday. Duke Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $85.79 and a 1 year high of $118.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $114.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.88. The company has a market cap of $88.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.03, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.81.

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

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Duke Energy

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total transaction of $61,365.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,259,617.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.