Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Sold by Financial Advocates Investment Management

Financial Advocates Investment Management trimmed its stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 9.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,634 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 720 shares during the quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $765,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DUK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its position in Duke Energy by 11,471.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $781,500,000 after acquiring an additional 6,719,398 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 13,829.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,125,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,782,000 after buying an additional 1,117,526 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 65.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,769,000 after buying an additional 813,744 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 9,923.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 769,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,103,000 after buying an additional 761,590 shares during the period. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $36,278,000. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on DUK. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $138.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.85.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total transaction of $61,365.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,259,617.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of Duke Energy stock opened at $112.67 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. The firm has a market cap of $87.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.46. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $86.61 and a fifty-two week high of $121.25. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $115.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.14.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Duke Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.98%.

Duke Energy Company 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.