Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Sold by Cravens & Co Advisors LLC

Cravens & Co Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 14.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 432 shares during the period. Cravens & Co Advisors LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $291,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 108,819 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,520,000 after purchasing an additional 9,334 shares in the last quarter. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,888,000. PrairieView Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $501,000. Commerce Bank raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 5.9% during the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 269,217 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,041,000 after acquiring an additional 15,069 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 158.9% during the third quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 8,483 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $978,000 after acquiring an additional 5,206 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on DUK. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.69.

Duke Energy Price Performance

NYSE:DUK opened at $117.05 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $90.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.52, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.47. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $90.09 and a one year high of $121.25. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $115.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $109.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. Duke Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.94 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current 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. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 76.84%.

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.