Pullen Investment Management LLC Acquires 250 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Pullen Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. Pullen Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,550,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in DUK. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,675,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,835,047,000 after buying an additional 324,289 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 3.2% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,493,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,111,521,000 after purchasing an additional 352,320 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position in Duke Energy by 11,471.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $781,500,000 after purchasing an additional 6,719,398 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 1.7% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,471,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $247,672,000 after purchasing an additional 40,243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 65.7% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,769,000 after purchasing an additional 813,744 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Duke Energy stock opened at $117.21 on Friday. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $86.61 and a fifty-two week high of $121.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market cap of $90.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $115.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $107.54.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.57%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.98%.

Insider Activity at Duke Energy

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total transaction of $61,365.60. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Mizuho upgraded Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.85.

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.