Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Has $1.46 Million Stock Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 9.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,686 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,306 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,463,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Platform Technology Partners increased its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 0.9% during the third quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 16,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,908,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in Duke Energy by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,810,125 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $208,707,000 after purchasing an additional 17,847 shares during the period. Patron Partners LLC increased its stake in Duke Energy by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 2,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $278,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC acquired a new position in Duke Energy during the third quarter worth $226,000. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 4.2% in the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 21,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,452,000 after buying an additional 856 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DUK has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.85.

Duke Energy Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of Duke Energy stock opened at $111.27 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.70. Duke Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $88.27 and a 52-week high of $121.25. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $115.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $109.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.47.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($0.11). Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. The business had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.76%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.84%.

Duke Energy 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.