First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown Reduces Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown trimmed its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 1.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,118 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $936,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in DUK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 11,471.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,500,000 after buying an additional 6,719,398 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 13,829.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,125,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,782,000 after purchasing an additional 1,117,526 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased 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 purchasing an additional 813,744 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 761,590 shares during the period. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON acquired a new position in Duke Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,278,000. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Duke Energy Trading Down 2.2 %

DUK opened at $111.08 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $115.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.61. The company has a market cap of $85.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.46, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.47. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $86.61 and a one year high of $121.25. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.84 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 14.29%. The business’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given 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 dividend yield of 3.76%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.98%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on DUK shares. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Duke Energy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $138.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.85.

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.