Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. Sells 78,392 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 86.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,051 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 78,392 shares during the quarter. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,208,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of DUK. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in Duke Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,147,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 1.8% in the second quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 51,044 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,116,000 after buying an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Excalibur Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 1.0% in the second quarter. Excalibur Management Corp now owns 12,471 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,250,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its holdings in Duke Energy by 9,923.0% during the 2nd 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 during the period. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 17.7% in the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 8,287 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $831,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on DUK shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $114.23.

Duke Energy Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE DUK opened at $117.70 on Tuesday. Duke Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $83.06 and a 1 year high of $118.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.84 billion, a PE ratio of 29.57, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The business’s 50-day moving average is $111.54 and its 200 day moving average is $103.31.

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

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $1.045 per share. This is a positive change from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.55%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is presently 105.03%.

Insider Activity at Duke Energy

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total value 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. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.10% of the stock is 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.