Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Holdings Cut by Agate Pass Investment Management LLC

Agate Pass Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 5.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,583 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 310 shares during the period. Agate Pass Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $644,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 65.7% during 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 last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its position in Duke Energy by 9,923.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 769,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,103,000 after acquiring an additional 761,590 shares in the last quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON acquired a new stake in Duke Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,278,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Duke Energy by 3.2% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,493,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,111,521,000 after acquiring an additional 352,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $6,835,047,000 after purchasing an additional 324,289 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Duke Energy Price Performance

NYSE:DUK opened at $113.12 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $87.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.83, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a 50-day moving average of $114.37 and a 200-day moving average of $105.69. Duke Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $85.79 and a 52 week high of $118.31. 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 quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $6.84 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 14.29%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company 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 $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is 76.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on DUK shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Duke Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $138.00 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $120.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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.