Fiduciary Alliance LLC Increases Stock Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Fiduciary Alliance LLC increased its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 85.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,080 shares during the quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $771,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in Duke Energy by 65.7% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $205,769,000 after acquiring an additional 813,744 shares during the period. 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 worth $77,103,000 after acquiring an additional 761,590 shares during the period. BROOKFIELD Corp ON acquired a new position in Duke Energy during the first quarter worth $36,278,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Duke Energy by 3.2% during 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 during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,675,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,835,047,000 after buying an additional 324,289 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $138.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $121.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $120.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 19,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,259,617.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Duke Energy Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Duke Energy stock opened at $115.14 on Tuesday. Duke Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $85.79 and a 52-week high of $118.31. The company has a 50 day moving average of $114.46 and a 200 day moving average of $106.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. The company has a market capitalization of $88.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.46.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.16. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.29% and a return on equity of 9.71%. The company had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is currently 105.03%.

Duke Energy Company 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.