3,647 Shares in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Bought by MQS Management LLC

MQS Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $353,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO increased its holdings in Duke Energy by 3.3% during the first quarter. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO now owns 3,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $328,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Breakwater Capital Group boosted its position in Duke Energy by 3.9% during the first quarter. Breakwater Capital Group now owns 2,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. First Command Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in Duke Energy by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 7,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $771,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Duke Energy by 9.0% during the first quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,380 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $133,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Finally, Verum Partners LLC boosted its position in Duke Energy by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Verum Partners LLC now owns 3,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on DUK. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $103.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $101.00 to $94.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.58.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Julia S. Janson sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.79, for a total value of $1,027,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 68,657 shares in the company, valued at $7,057,253.03. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Julia S. Janson sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.79, for a total value of $1,027,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 68,657 shares in the company, valued at $7,057,253.03. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director E Marie Mckee sold 1,695 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.31, for a total value of $173,415.45. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4 shares in the company, valued at $409.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,695 shares of company stock valued at $2,750,815 over the last quarter. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Duke Energy Price Performance

NYSE DUK traded down $1.03 during trading on Thursday, hitting $107.57. 3,165,241 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,899,894. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. The company has a market cap of $83.02 billion, a PE ratio of 27.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.45. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $83.06 and a fifty-two week high of $110.02. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $102.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.35.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $7.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.31 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.25% and a net margin of 10.78%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.89%. This is an increase from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 103.02%.

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.